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Copyright N°_. 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



Essentials In Education 



ELLIS U. GRAFF 

Superintendent of Schools 
Indianapolis, Indiana 



C27 



INDIANAPOLIS 

THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 



Copyright 1921 
The Bobbs-Merrill Company 



&, 



11 



6 



Printed in the United States of America 



SEP I5I32I 



PREB8 OF 

BRAUNWORTH ft CO. 

BOOK MANUFACTURERS 

BROOKLYN, N. Y. 



CL A 6 2 4 4 3 9 



FOREWORD 

The purpose of this book is to present to teachers 
and all persons interested in education a discussion 
of some of the fundamental factors in public educa- 
tion in the light of current educational practice. The 
point of view is distinctly practical. No panaceas 
are offered and no revolutions in current methods 
are proposed. While the form of statement may 
seem dogmatic in some instances, it is hoped that 
this is not the case to any greater extent than would 
be inevitable in presenting the convictions of the 
writer as an outgrowth of twenty-five years of 
public school work. 

Many of the chapters are upon subjects which 
have been presented many times by the writer in 
talks and addresses to teachers and the general 
public. This accounts for the informal nature of 
many statements. It is hoped that the point of view 
here presented will be helpful to teachers and others 
interested in education in applying to the solution of 
present problems the conclusions obtained from a 
long administrative experience. 

Grateful acknowledgment is made to Mr. Murray 
A. Dalman for help in preparing the references and 
for the illustration of the statistical methods used in 
Chapter 13. 

The Author 



CONTENTS 

Chapter Page 

I Teaching as a Profession i 

Choosing an occupation difficult — Definition of 
profession — Characteristics which occupation 
should possess — Nature of teaching as an occu- 
pation — Modern point of view — Financial 
aspects — Specialization in education — Rewards 
— Disadvantages — The spirit of the teacher. 

II The Essential Qualities of a Teacher ... 14 
Importance of topic to teachers and others — 
Essential qualities only will be considered — 
Professional spirit — Sincerity — Sympathetic 
insight — Adequate scholarship — Motivation — 
Unselfishness — Attainment of these qualities — 
Measurement of teacher's work. 

III School Discipline 27 

Good discipline is essential to success — Failure 
is often due to unreasonable requirements — 
Teachers should be impersonal — Teachers fre- 
quently lack poise and self-control — "He who 
has patience can have what he will" — Dis- 
cipline should promote character development — 
Confidence in pupils is a strong incentive — 
Proper penalties promote good discipline — 
Repeated small offenses are very trying — "You 
can not indict a whole nation" — Corporal pun- 
ishment is not effective with adolescents. 

IV Methods of Teaching 43 

The teacher is more an artist than an artisan — 
Methods depend on the aims of education — The 
ultimate aim is service to the world — The 
method of education should be psychological — 
The principle of apperception — The principle of 
interest — The principle of individual differ- 
ences — The principle of attention — The prin- 
ciple of association — The principle of reasoning 
— The training of the will — The training of the 
emotions — Special methods of the recitation. 

V Individual Differences 58 

Variations in mental ability are a matter of 
common knowledge — Difficulty increased by 
compulsory attendance — The usual method of 



CONTENTS— Continued 
Chapter Page 

grouping — Principles of teaching based on 
variation — Amount of retardation is excessive 
— Remedies based on changes in organization — 
Needs of superior children are not being met — 
How shall children be classified? — Objections 
to class instruction — Economy of this method — 
Children have abilities in common — Testing 
intelligence — Testing knowledge and skill — 
Provision for individual progress — Flexibility 
is desirable — The use of standard tests. 

VI The Course of Study 77 

The science of curriculum making is in its 
inception — The course of study is determined 
by the aims of education — The importance of 
knowledge — Not all facts can be studied — 
Knowledge of social relations is important — A 
knowledge of vocational conditions is important 
— The development of skill — The development 
of ideals — Principles of organizing subject- 
matter — The scientific method — The course of 
study is a social product — Essentials of the 
scientific method — Supplementing experience — 
The value of this method — The development of 
individualism. 

VII Home Study and Supervised Study ... 94 
Recitation work better organized than study — 
Methods of study are important because they 
are related to the learning process — Opposition 
to outside study — Supervised study needed 
because of class-room method — Administrative 
solutions — Batavia plan — Oakland City plan — 
Newark plan — Pedagogical solution — Principles 
of teaching — Help in study must be adapted to 
need of moment — Illustration of failure to 
supervise study — Careful assignments will aid — 
Correct habits of work should result — Scientific 
methods will aid — Diagnosis prerequisite to 
instruction. 

VIII The Relation of the School to the Community 107 
The school is society's principal educational 
institution — The school cooperates with other 
agencies — The school transmits the race inher- 
itance — The school is a constructive social force 
— Purpose of education determined by socio- 



CONTENTS— Continued 
Chapter p AGE 

logical conditions — Complexity of modern life — 
Specialization of efforts — Publicity helps coor- 
dination — Social aspect shown by the curric- 
ulum — Attitude toward war work — Sociologi- 
cal aspects of modern schools — Community uses 
— Student organizations — Special days — Home 
projects — Commercial materials — Work per- 
mits. 

IX Supervision . 123 

Social unrest affects education — Supervision a 
cause of dissatisfaction — The purpose of super- 
vision — Need of supervision accompanies 
increasing complexity of life — Teachers are 
becoming specialists — Relative values not deter- 
mined—Administrative work is a distinct field 
— Objections to supervision — Supervision 
should be constructive — Supervision should be 
liberal — Supervision should be scientific — Atti- 
tude of teachers toward supervision — Teachers 
should acknowledge their difficulties — Teachers 
should have a scientific attitude — Differentia- 
tion should be recognized — Need of coopera- 
tion. 

X Health Supervision 138 

Accurate data — Extent of defects revealed — 
Same relative amount of deficiency among 
school children — Public health service not 
adequately financed — Education must change 
this condition — Relation of health to education 
— Economic loss — Relation to compulsory atten- 
dance — School conditions may be detrimental to 
health — Schoolhouse planning is becoming a 
highly specialized science — Relation of archi- 
tects to this problem — The school nurse — The 
teacher's duty — Physical education. 
XI Pupils' Marks and Promotions . . .151 
School marks are a part of educational machin- 
ery — Marks are needed for pupil's encourage- 
ment — Difference in teachers' standards — Most 
marks are quantitative — Purpose of marking 
system is constructive — The per cent, system — 
The literal system— Qualitative marks— Passing 
or failing — Relative ranking — Standard tests — 
Rating of formal work — Difference among 
teachers— Indefiniteness of report card— Char- 



CONTENTS— Continued 
Chapter , Page 

acteristics of a suitable report — Relation of 
reports to promotions — Progress should not be 
impeded by avoidable obstacles. 
XII School Buildings and Equipment . . . 165 
Material side not most important — School archi- 
tecture is a modern development — Building 
should be adapted to use — Indiana sanitary 
schoolhouse law — National Education Associa- 
tion standards — Community center — Furniture 
and equipment — Window shades — Ventilation — 
School furniture — Blackboards — Book and 
supply cabinets — Apparatus and material — 
Supplementary books — Other devices. 

XIII The Teacher's Use of Measurements .... 185 

A new science of education — Measurement of 
variables — Method is a means — Two classes of 
problems — Examinations have not been a satis- 
factory measure — Steps in the scientific method 
— White elementary schools — Educational fac- 
tors which are definite — Educational factors 
which can not be measured — How the teacher 
may be helped — Wide range of ability. 

XIV Specialization in Education .... 210 

The industrial revolution — Growth of scientific 
knowledge — Change to machine labor — De- 
velopment of power machinery — Increase in 
number of occupations — Change from home to 
factory — Division of labor — Need of capital — 
Increase in wealth — Class divisions — Effect on 
education — Need of cooperation — Specializa- 
tion in teaching — The work of organiza- 
tion — Needed adjustment of education — Advan- 
tages of specialization — Disadvantages of spe- 
cialization — Means of adjustment. 
XV Education and the Nation .... 230 
Change in the purpose of education — Present 
purpose — Education as a conserving factor — 
The principle of local control — Results of 
education as shown by war — Achievements of 
American education — The principle of self- 
activity in education — Education must foster 
the ideal — Means of securing national aims in 
education — The teacher shortage — Need of 
attention to national program of education — 
The teacher's responsibility. 



ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 



Essentials in Education 

CHAPTER I 

TEACHING AS A PROFESSION 

Choosing an occupation difficult. — The present 
complexity of society makes the choosing of an occu- 
pation more difficult than ever before. The division 
of labor and the high degree of specialization has 
greatly increased the number of occupations. Infor- 
mation in regard to these many lines of work is not 
always available so that the possibilities of a par- 
ticular field may not be known. There is great need 
of reliable vocational information so that all these 
essential factors might be available. 

In addition to the complexity of society there is 
the added difficulty of the uncertainty as to one's 
powers and tastes. It is often impossible to tell 
whether or not you would like a given kind of work 
until you try it. The testimony given by those who 
are already engaged in a certain occupation is not 
always reliable since people are prone to> see the dif- 
ficult and objectionable sides of their own calling. 

I 



2 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

Broadly speaking, there may be said to be a line 
of demarcation between business and the profes- 
sions. In business life commercial success is the 
chief goal together with the power and standing 
which go with financial attainment. In the profes- 
sions the idea of service to humanity is chiefly 
emphasized and the thought of personal gain is 
largely ignored. 

Definition of profession. — A profession has been 
defined as an occupation that properly involves a 
liberal education or its equivalent and mental rather 
than manual labor; also any calling or occupation 
involving special mental attainments or special 
discipline as editing, acting, engineering, author- 
ship.* This definition places emphasis upon the 
preparation and qualities needed in order to follow 
a profession. It implies special training and the 
development of intellectual qualities of a superior 
kind. The emphasis upon this point is significant 
because in the discussions about teaching as a pro- 
fession the thought is usually directed toward the 
kind of work involved rather than the preparation 
and fitness of the worker. Teaching is a profes- 
sion because it requires special preparation of an 
intellectual sort, and as the requirements for teach- 
ing continue to increase, the status of teaching as a 
profession will be correspondingly elevated. 



*See Standard Dictionary. 



TEACHING AS A PROFESSION 3 

Any occupation that is to be satisfactory must 
satisfy one's sense of values. It must seem to be so 
valuable that one can afford to spend his life in 
following it. Unless it have this characteristic of 
worthwhileness the occupation will be the merest 
drudgery. 

Characteristics which occupation should possess. 
— Some of the elements which enter into the ques- 
tion of occupation are — first, adequate financial 
return. The income must be sufficient for a liveli- 
hood and for at least a slight margin besides. It is 
important that one's work should bring in enough 
to support one's self and family and also to accumu- 
late a reserve for future needs. Unless the remuner- 
ation is sufficient to cover these real needs of life, 
one can not feel that the occupation is permanently 
satisfying. 

The second element in the occupation is that it 
must furnish opportunity for sufficient recognition 
of. one's ability. A certain amount of success is nec- 
essary to satisfy us that our powers are being help- 
fully employed. 

Third, there must be a consciousness of service 
to the world. No one would long be satisfied to 
perform a piece of work which he felt was perfectly 
useless even though he were well paid for it. John 
Ruskin said in 185 1 : "In order that people may be 
happy in their work these three things are needed. 



4 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

They must be fit for it ; they must not do too much 
of it; and they must have a sense of success in it." 
This is as true to-day as it was when the words were 
spoken. 

Nature of teaching as an occupation. — Let us 
examine some of the principal characteristics of the 
work of teaching in order to determine how far it 
fulfills the above requirements. The answer to this 
question will very largely determine the desirability 
of teaching as a profession. 

One of the most distinctive features of teaching 
is that it places a teacher in the attitude of a leader 
and guide to minds less informed and less developed. 
This fact makes a strong appeal to many natures. 
It is an opportunity which should not be lightly 
regarded. It is a wonderful privilege to act as the 
light which illuminates the world for the youthful 
traveler and which accompanies him on his first 
excursions from the darkness of ignorance to the 
new world of truth and beauty. 

No one can do the work of a true teacher with- 
out having a sympathy and a liking for children. 
The true teacher must like children and enjoy being 
with them and must enter into their interests and 
activities with true insight and friendly appreciation. 
If the companionship of children be not agreeable to 
you and if their concerns seem uninteresting and 
trivial, by all means seek some other vocation for 
you will not be happy in teaching. 



TEACHING AS A PROFESSION 5 

The work of teaching possesses variety. Each 
new lesson brings new problems. The necessity of 
meeting the active minds of a group of children each 
day is a continual incentive to intellectual activity. 
While the routine of the schoolroom may sometimes 
seem like drudgery, the real work of teaching is con- 
stantly new and fresh. It furnishes a constant stim- 
ulus to the mind of the teacher and prevents 
stagnation and mental lethargy. 

Furthermore teaching encourages inventiveness 
and initiative. It constantly invites to new efforts 
of approach to subject-matter and clearer methods 
of elucidation. No other kind of work affords 
greater variety than this. 

And, finally, the work of teaching is idealistic 
because it deals with the never-ending search for 
truth and for the highest truth. It ever seeks to 
mold the unfolding mind in accordance with the fin- 
est ideals and to furnish the truest principles of con- 
duct as a basis of all behavior. 

There are numerous other characteristics of a 
teacher's work, but the above are sufficiently indica- 
tive of its nature to enable any one to determine 
whether he would be suited to work in this field. 
Any person who possesses the five qualities enumer- 
ated — intellectual leadership, love for children, 
appreciation of the variety of the work, delight in 
the use of initiative and the pursuit of the ideal — 
will enjoy the work of teaching and will probably 



6 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

be successful in it ; but lacking any one of these qual- 
ities, both enjoyment and success would be very 
doubtful. 

Modern point of view. — As a corollary to the 
above characteristics of teaching, consider for a 
moment the modern point of view of the work of 
public education. The child study movement has 
changed the emphasis in teaching from the subject- 
matter to the child. Formerly the information which 
was important to the adult world was presented in 
limited quantities to children without much adapta- 
tion to their interests or capacity, but a truer under- 
standing of the laws of mental growth has resulted 
in making the child the center of the educational 
process and in adapting to his needs all the materials 
and processes of education. The working out of 
this point of view is far from complete and the 
attempt to perfect the means and materials from 
the psychological point of view is a constant incen- 
tive to the true teacher. 

In addition to the better understanding of child 
nature and its needs there has also been an awaken- 
ing to the relationship of education and the sociologi- 
cal and civic requirements of a democracy. The 
child must not only perfect his own powers but he 
must perfect them to the end that society may be 
served thereby. The relating of educational pro- 
cesses to the needs of the world is one of the most 



TEACHING AS A PROFESSION 7 

fundamental educational problems. In the solution 
of it the teacher may feel certain that a tremendous 
contribution is being made to the needs of the nation 
and the service of society. No field of work could 
be more vital and fundamental. 

Financial aspects. — But what can be said of the 
material side of the work of teaching? The present 
wide-spread discussion of teachers' salaries has 
emphasized the financial aspects of teaching to a 
greater extent than ever before. This may have 
created some impression that teachers are less pro- 
fessional than formerly, but it should not be so con- 
sidered. The advancing costs since the war have 
necessitated a readjustment of all wage and salary 
scales. Teachers' salaries have been notoriously 
low and it is high time that adjustments were made 
to a living basis. Until salaries are adequate they 
should be one of the principal subjects of discussion. 

In general the public has been inclined to agree 
that teachers' salaries are too low and also that 
teachers are worthy of a good salary. The difficul- 
ties in obtaining adjustments have been largely 
those of adjusting the taxing machinery for the pro- 
duction of greater revenue. 

Recent studies show that both maximum and 
minimum salaries have increased at least fifty per 
cent, and the tendency is still upward. The public 
should not allow this question to sink into the back- 



8 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

ground until salaries are sufficiently large to obtain 
teachers of the highest qualifications. Public policy 
will not permit ruinous economy at this point. When 
the entire amount of money spent for instruction is 
compared with that spent for many unnecessary 
items, it is seen that we are not paying very dearly 
for education. 

It is significant to note that the wide-spread agi- 
tation for better salaries for teachers has not lessened 
the professional spirit or devotion to their work. 
Those who are in touch with the teaching profession 
know that there is at the present time a greater spirit 
of service than ever before. True teachers have 
always been actuated by the highest motives and 
that is just as true to-day as it has been at any time. 
During the war teachers were anxious to do what- 
ever was most serviceable. In most cases that 
meant remaining at their usual tasks. In some cases 
it meant entering government service, but now that 
the war is over there is a new appreciation of the 
importance of public education in the building of 
citizenship and teachers are feeling a new call to 
service. 

Specialization in education. — Another character- 
istic of the work of teaching is that it is becoming 
more and more highly specialized. Just as the 
division of labor has resulted in specialization in 
industry, so it has in education. The work of teach- 



TEACHING AS A PROFESSION 9 

ing has become subdivided until now all teachers 
are specialists. This has certain advantages in that 
it enables a teacher to perfect her technique more 
easily. It makes her more efficient in performing 
her specialty. But it also has the disadvantage that 
the teacher labors in a small portion of the field and 
does not have contact with the general problems of 
education. This has produced a certain unrest and 
has led some teachers to feel that they are being 
excluded from participation in educational adminis- 
tration. As a matter of fact the work of education 
needs to be coordinated and this can be done only 
by proper organization. It can not be done by 
reverting to the former state of society in which 
occupations were not so highly differentiated as at 
present. 

Another aspect of the work of teaching is its 
relationship to the modern scientific movement in 
education. The attempt to apply scientific methods 
to pedagogy is in its inception. It has not yet 
reached the status of a complete science of educa- 
tion, but it has resulted in refining the instruments 
of teaching and in seeing a clear definition of the 
problems involved. Teachers should be open- 
minded with reference to these new methods and 
should inform themselves of the developments in 
this field and the applicability of the various means 
to their work. As the subject becomes more fully 



io ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

worked out it will add to the effectiveness of the 
teacher's work and to her satisfaction in obtaining 
more definite results. 

Another interesting aspect of the work of teach- 
ing is that modern education has become socialized 
to a very large extent: that is, children are being 
educated more and more by participation in various 
activities which develop them by experience. This 
has long been the philosophical ideal of education 
but it is only in modern times that it is being 
attained. Formerly the tendency was to educate 
children by instruction exclusively. It was a ques- 
tion of imparting knowledge by the teacher directly, 
but the modern school is a socialized school and it 
has produced a new day in education. 

Rewards. — There are many rewards in the field 
of teaching. In the first place, it ministers to one's 
own intellectual growth, it makes continual study 
and advancement in scholarship possible. This pre- 
vents intellectual stagnation and early crystallization 
of ideas. It enables one to be a student continually 
and to feel each year that he advances in intel- 
lectual power. Besides this, it affords a pleasant 
social status. A teacher is a figure of importance 
in the community. She possesses influence and is 
regarded as a person of high standing. Also, the 
work of teaching is a work of service to mankind 
and it ministers to one's desire to serve largely. The 



TEACHING AS A PROFESSION n 

opportunity to influence the lives of future citizens 
is one to be envied and which undoubtedly in later 
years would be a great cause of gratification and 
pleasure. 

Emerson says that, "He teaches who gives and 
he learns who receives. " The opportunity to give of 
one's self for the enrichment of the lives of others 
is an opportunity for the highest and most inspiring 
service. 

Disadvantages. — It is true there are disadvan- 
tages to this as to every profession. There is danger 
of a certain narrowness and pedantry; there is a 
more or less uncertain tenure; there is a limited 
financial return, but it is well to remember as Vice- 
President Coolidge has said, "The realities of life 
are not measured by dollars and cents, the skill 
of the physician, the divine eloquence of the 
clergyman, the courage of the soldier, that which we 
call character in all men, are not matters of hire and 
salary. No person was ever honored for what he 
received. Honor has been the reward for what he 
gave. Public acclaim and the ceremonious recogni- 
tion paid to returning heroes are not on account of 
their government pay, but of the service and sacri- 
fice they gave their country." 

The spirit of the teacher. — The whole subject is 
well summarized in the following paragraph which 
is taken from a letter received by the writer from 



12 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

an old friend who has had a long experience in the 
field of education. "In recalling the teachers of our 
youth why is it that after the lapse of time, compara- 
tively few stand out as conspicuous in their influ- 
ence on our mind or character. In seeking an 
explanation, do we not find it in the spirit of the 
teacher, a something that like the electric current is 
not seen but felt. All may have knowledge of their 
subject but few have the ability to transmit it in a 
way that appeals to the interest and understanding 
of the learner. When we find such spirit in Horace 
Mann or Mark Hopkins we establish institutions to 
impart it." This refers to the unconscious influence 
of the teacher which can not be analyzed or tabu- 
lated but which is the best single factor in a teacher's 
fitness for his work. The same thought has been 
attributed to Socrates in the following saying, "All 
my good is magnetic and I educate not by lessons 
but by going about my business." 

OUTLINE OF THE CHAPTER 

A. Choosing an occupation difficult. 

1. Complexity of society. 

2. Uncertainty of one's tastes. 

3. Characteristics of professional life. 

B. Occupation must satisfy sense of values. 

1. Financial aspect. 

2. Sense of success. 

3. Ideal of service. 

C. Nature of teaching as an occupation. 



TEACHING AS A PROFESSION 13 

1. Qualities required of a successful 

teacher. 

a. Leadership. 

b. Sympathy. 

c. Variety. 

d. Initiative. 

e. Idealism. 

2. Modern point of view. 

3. Education for democracy. 

4. Financial aspects. 

a. Teachers' salaries. 

5. Specialization and division of labor. 

6. The scientific movement. 

7. Sociological considerations. 

D. Rewards. 

1. Self-development. 

2. Honorable social status. 

3. Opportunity for service. 

E. Disadvantages. 

1. Pedantry. 

2. Uncertainty of tenure. 

3. Small financial return. 

F. The spirit of the teacher. 

TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION 

Is teaching a desirable profession? Why? Are the con- 
ditions improving in teaching? In what respects? What are 
the chief objections to the work of teaching? Are these 
objections more serious than those of other occupations? 
What characteristics of the work of teaching require special 
qualities on the part of the teacher? What are some of the 
rewards of teaching? Is a monetary reward more satisfying 
than a more intangible one? If you won a prize contest, 
would you prefer a medal or a cash prize? 



CHAPTER II 

THE ESSENTIAL QUALITIES OF A TEACHER 

Importance of topic to teachers and others. — 

Consideration of the most necessary qualities which 
teachers should possess is of interest both to teach- 
ers and school officers. If these qualities can be 
definitely determined they serve as standards for 
teachers for self-cultivation. They may be consid- 
ered the norm toward which teachers should strive. 
These fundamental characteristics are of concern to 
school officers because they show the things to be 
sought in the employment of teachers. 

In considering this subject it is highly desirable 
not to indulge in a council of perfection and to make 
an exhaustive catalogue of all good qualities of char- 
acter, for to do this would imply so great a degree 
of moral and spiritual perfection that one might well 
despair of measuring up to it. Of course, one can 
never possess too many good qualities whether he 
be engaged in teaching or in other work. Every 
element of strength is of value and service to a 
teacher. 

14 



QUALITIES OF A TEACHER 15 

Essential qualities only will be considered. — 

Instead of attempting to outline all the desirable 
qualities which enter into the making of the highest 
and best character, it will simplify our discussion if 
we attempt to limit the subject to those indispensable 
characteristics without which a teacher can not 
measure up to the ordinary standards of her profes- 
sion. The following qualities represent the convic- 
tion of the writer as an outgrowth of twenty-five 
years' experience in public school work. Each is 
fundamental and necessary to success in teaching. 
While many characteristics might be added to this 
list, the qualities named represent the minimum 
essentials for a good teacher. 

Professional spirit. — This primarily means that 
one be so actuated by a sense of service that he will 
live for his pupils and for the truth and not for self- 
ish ends. This does not imply a mere sentimental 
altruism but rather a strong vigorous will to serve, 
to be used to the end that the life of the community 
may be improved and the cause of progress be 
subserved. 

A professional spirit implies that one shall work 
without undue thought of monetary reward ; that is, 
the compensation must not be the chief motive of 
one's service. Strictly speaking, the work of teach- 
ing is so valuable that it could not be recompensed 
in direct proportion to its value. Just as the physi- 



i6 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

cian who saves the life of his patient charges a nom- 
inal fee which is a mere honorarium and which does 
not at all represent the value of the service to the 
patient, so the teacher performs a function which 
can be recompensed only nominally. 

A professional spirit also implies a right rela- 
tionship toward all educational associates. It pre- 
supposes courtesy and kindness to one's fellow 
teachers and the absence of professional jealousy 
which would put selfish interests above devotion to 
the common welfare. 

Sincerity. — Children have an almost uncanny 
intuition which enables them to perceive the real 
inner spirit of those with whom they deal. In deal- 
ing with children it is not so much what you know 
that counts as what you are. Unless a teacher be 
actuated by a sincere desire to minister to the high- 
est good of her pupils, her work will be of little 
effect. 

This quality also implies that a teacher has some- 
what of an appreciation of life's real values and 
that incentives will be supplied which will develop 
in the pupils the highest qualities of manhood and 
womanhood. 

Sympathetic insight. — The modern child study 
movement has shown that we must approach all 
teaching from the standpoint of the child. The aim 
should be not so much the inculcation of technical 



QUALITIES OF A TEACHER 17 

knowledge but rather a training and development of 
the powers of the individual in order to make him 
of maximum service. 

On the side of morals this quality would enable 
one to appeal to the best instincts in the nature of 
each pupil and to enlist the child's own powers in 
the cause of his cultivation. 

Adequate scholarship. — Notwithstanding the fact 
that the imparting of information is not the exclu- 
sive function of the teacher, adequate academic 
attainment is necessary as a part of the teacher's 
equipment. Without a sufficient wealth of knowl- 
edge the teacher can not properly relate the truth 
which the child is studying to other subjects and 
other phases of truth, nor can the teacher inspire the 
child with a deep interest in pursuit of a subject if 
his own vision be limited. The making of scholars, 
not scholarship, is the ultimate g'oal of teaching. 

Scholarship is also valuable in that it tends to 
keep the teacher in the learner's attitude and thus 
conduces to mental vitality and growth. If there 
ever was a time when scholarship in itself was con- 
sidered sufficient preparation for teaching, that idea 
no longer prevails, but it is so important a factor 
that a certain amount of scholastic attainment has 
always been made a prerequisite of obtaining a 
teaching position. 

The importance of scholarship and the contribu- 



18 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

tion which the scholar may make to civilization is 
inspiringly set forth in the following quotation from 
Emerson's The American Scholar. "The office of 
the scholar is to cheer, to raise, and to guide men 
by showing them facts amidst appearances. He plies 
the slow, unhonored, and unpaid task of observa- 
tion. Flamsteed and Herschel, in their glazed obser- 
vatories, may catalogue the stars with the praise of 
all men, and, the results being splendid and useful, 
honor is sure. But he, in his private observatory, 
cataloguing obscure and nebulous stars of the human 
mind, which as yet no man has thought of as such,— 
watching days and months, sometimes, for a few 
facts; correcting still his old records, — must relin- 
quish display and immediate fame. In the long" 
period of his preparation, he must betray often an 
ignorance and shiftlessness in popular arts, incurring 
the disdain of the able who shoulder him aside. 
Long he must stammer in his speech; often forego 
the living for the dead. Worse yet, he must accept 
— how often! — poverty and solitude. For the ease 
and pleasure of treading the old road, accepting the 
fashions, the education, the religion of society, he 
takes the cross of making his own^ and, of course, 
the self-accusation, the faint hearty the frequent 
uncertainty and loss of time, which are the nettles 
and tangling vines in the way of the self-relying and 
self-directed; and the state of virtual hostility in 



QUALITIES OF A TEACHER 19 

which he seems to stand to society, and especially to 
educated society. For all this loss and scorn, what 
offset? He is to find consolation in exercising the 
highest functions of human nature. He is one who 
raises himself from private considerations, and 
breathes and lives on public and illustrious thoughts. 
He is the world's eye. He is the world's heart. He 
is to resist the vulgar prosperity that retrogrades 
ever to< barbarism, by preserving and communicating 
heroic sentiments, noble biographies, melodious 
verse, and the conclusions of history. Whatsoever 
oracles the human heart, in all emergencies, in all 
solemn hours, has uttered as its commentary on the 
world of actions, — these he shall receive and impart. 
And whatsoever new verdict Reason from her invio- 
lable seat pronounces on the passing men and events 
of to-day, — this he shall hear and promulgate/' 

Motivation. — The fifth essential quality is the 
ability to vitalize one's teaching : that is, to relate the 
facts taught to the life of the pupil on the one hand 
and to the life of the community on the other. 
Isolated facts acquired without reference to their 
usability do not constitute an education and do not 
serve in the development of mental power. 

Furthermore, it is the setting up of these rela- 
tionships which tends to develop judgment on the 
part of the pupil. This judgment is the result of a 
comparison of facts and the estimation of one thing 
in terms of another. 



20 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

An interesting illustration of vitalized teaching 
was furnished the writer a few years ago when he 
heard two college graduates who had been out of 
college several years, discussing the question as to 
the most valuable course which they had taken while 
in college. Both agreed that it was a certain course 
in astronomy. This decision seemed peculiar since 
astronomy is not a subject which would ordinarily 
be considered either practical or especially interesting 
from the standpoint of practical affairs. Upon 
inquiry it was found that the professor of astronomy 
in this college was an exceptionally able man who 
succeeded in impressing upon the minds of his pupils 
not only the truths of astronomy, but the great 
truths of life, so that not only were their minds 
informed but their judgment was developed and 
principles of conduct were established. 

While it would not be justifiable to draw from 
this incident the conclusion that the kind of subject- 
matter is not important if only it be taught in an 
interesting way, it does point to the fact that true 
teaching will enlighten the mind and inspire the 
ideals regardless of the subject-matter. 

Unselfishness. — The sixth and last essential qual- 
ity is self-effacement. This is characterized by Pro- 
fessor Palmer in his excellent essay as "a willingness 
to be forgotten." This spirit is implied in what has 
been said above under the head -of professional 



QUALITIES OF A TEACHER 21 

spirit. It implies the absence of all self-advertising 
and all exploitation of one's position for the purpose 
of self-aggrandizement. The true teacher will live 
for his pupils and the truth and will devote his entire 
thought and energy to a pursuit of these ideals. It 
is the office of the teacher to develop the qualities 
of his pupils to the point where they shall become 
self-reliant and self-determining and thus obviate 
the need of a teacher. This thought has been 
expressed in the saying that the true point of grad- 
uation is the vanishing point for the necessity of a 
teacher. 

Of course, it is inevitable that the work of the 
true teacher will not be forgotten and that the con- 
tribution which she makes to the development of her 
pupils will enter into the fabric of their lives and 
will there be remembered with gratitude and affec- 
tion. This is one of the splendid rewards of the 
teacher, but it is incidental and comes as a by- 
product and should by no means be set up as the aim 
of the teacher's work. 

These six qualities are essential for a teacher: — 
professional spirit, sincerity, sympathetic insight, 
scholarship, ability to vitalize teaching, and self- 
effacement, and without any one of them the highest 
success in teaching can not be attained. These 
truths are summarized in the following quotation 
from Lord Broughman : "The great teacher's prog- 



22 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

ress is not to be compared with anything like the 
march of the conqueror, but it leads to a far more 
brilliant triumph and to laurels more imperishable 
than the destroyer of his species, the scourge of the 
world, ever won. Each one of these great teachers 
of the world, possessing his soul in peace, performs 
his appointed course, awaits in patience the fulfill- 
ment of the promises, and, resting from his labors, 
bequeaths his memory to the generation whom his 
works have blessed, and sleeps under the humble but 
not inglorious epitaph, commemorating 'one in whom 
mankind lost a friend, and no man got rid of an 
enemy/ " 

Assuming that the above discussion has covered 
the prerequisites for success in teaching, two further 
considerations demand our attention: namely, how 
can the teacher acquire these qualities ; and, secondly, 
how is the teacher to be judged as to the possession 
of them. 

Attainment of these qualities. — There have been 
many discussions as to whether teachers like poets 
must be born, not made. Probably it would be truer 
to say that they must be both born and made. The 
native temperament which predisposes one to a life 
of altruistic service is not a matter of formal train- 
ing. It is a matter of one's nature, his native endow- 
ment of principles and ideals. 

Granting this, it is then possible to add by formal 



QUALITIES OF A TEACHER 23 

training the qualities of scholarship and the technique 
of teaching, but by far the most important factor in 
the teacher's development is self-cultivation. This 
involves a consciousness on the part of the teacher 
of the qualities to be attained and the definite pro- 
cesses of self-cultivation in order to acquire them. 

The law of development in character is 
analogous to the law of physical development : 
namely, that power in a given line is developed by 
going through processes in that particular line, so 
that if qualities of character be set up as the objec- 
tive, training can be obtained by going through 
processes in the various objectives. This is the most 
difficult kind of education because it involves a def- 
inite recognition of the ends to be obtained and the 
determination on the part of the individual to per- 
severe in his course of training until his goal be 
reached. 

This must be partly the meaning of the old say- 
ing that there is no royal road to learning. There 
is no way by which the results of cultivation may 
be obtained without the effort and determination of 
the individual himself; unless he be enlisted in the 
cause of his own culture, neither schools nor systems 
can furnish him with the desired results. 

But let us assume that the teacher possess all of 
the desirable qualities above enumerated. How will 
this fact be evident? Generally speaking, character 



24 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

is made known through action, and the possession of 
these qualities will be evidenced in the teacher's work 
in the class-room and in all his activities in relation 
to his associates. 

This fact is one reason why successful experience 
is so often desired by school officials in employing 
teachers. Evidence of successful work is taken as 
the most conclusive proof of the possession of the 
necessary ability and qualifications. 

Measurement of teacher's worth. — But it may be 
asked if the teacher be properly equipped for work 
and be the possessor of all the essential qualities of 
the successful teacher, how shall her service be evalu- 
ated ? This question involves not only the matter of 
obtaining an appointment but the salary and the con- 
ditions of advancement. The present practise dif- 
fers widely in these matters and there exists to-day 
every variety of plan from that of individual bar- 
gain at the time of employment to the purely auto- 
matic salary schedule with no differentiations based 
upon qualifications. The most successful plans com- 
bine the desirable features of both ideas and provide 
for a certain amount of automatic progress and also 
for recognition of superior qualifications and 
efficiency. 

Broadly speaking, the effectiveness of a teachers 
work is evidenced by the attainment of her pupils. 
[This is shown by their mastery of the work in a 



QUALITIES OF A TEACHER 25 

given grade and also by the development of the 
power to do the work of succeeding grades. This 
is probably the largest single item in estimating the 
teacher's accomplishment. In addition to this there 
is the factor of maintaining a relationship of helpful 
cooperation with parents and the community. This 
result can be judged by the general reputation of 
the teacher as well as the testimony of parents and 
associates. The teacher's work can also be estimated 
by supervisors, superintendents and special directors 
since these officers are especially prepared along the 
lines of special subjects and departments. Such 
evaluation or rating of teachers should be done in 
accordance with well defined standards with which 
the teacher is familiar and the teacher should be 
informed not only of the ranking but also of the 
principles upon which the ranking is based. This 
subject is discussed more fully in Chapter IX to 
which the reader is referred for further details. 

OUTLINE OF THE CHAPTER 

A. Importance of topic. 

B. All good qualities desirable, but following are 

indispensable. 
I. Professional spirit. 



Sincerity. 

Sympathetic insight. 
Adequate scholarship. 
Ability to vitalize teaching. 
Unselfishness. 



26 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

C. Attainment of these qualities. 

D. Measurement of teacher's worth. 

REFERENCES 

Bagley — Class Room Management. 

Bennett — School Efficiency. 

James — Talks to Teachers on Psychology. 

Palmer — The Ideal Teacher. 

Seeley — A New School Management. 

TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION 

What do you consider the most important quality for a 
teacher to possess? Can this be cultivated and acquired? 
Describe the best teacher you ever had. What qualities made 
this teacher your favorite? To what extent does success for 
the pupil depend upon liking the teacher? Is the "merit" 
system of rating teachers successful? Give an example. 
What qualities should be considered in rating or marking 
teachers? Should the teacher's salary and promotion depend 
upon her rating? 



CHAPTER III 



SCHOOL DISCIPLINE 



Good discipline is essential to success. — 

Discipline lies at the basis of the teacher's success or 
failure. It rarely happens that a teacher fails in her 
work on account of lack of sufficient scholarship. 
In almost every case failure has been due to a lack 
of ability to manage or to govern. Therefore, from 
the teacher's standpoint, this is one of the funda- 
mental topics. 

Failure is often due to unreasonable require- 
ments. — Why do teachers fail in dealing with this 
question? In the first place, they usually fail to 
set up rational standards. The rules of many schools 
are artificial. They are not the same rules of con- 
duct as would be applicable outside of the school. 
They are not like the requirements of life itself, and 
hence pupils often feel that the requirements are 
purely arbitrary. Frequently the pupils do not see 
that there is anything intrinsic in the Tightness of a 
rule. Therefore, the best requirements for school 
conduct are those growing directly out of school 

27 



28 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

situations. The fact that children are associated in 
group life gives rise to the necessity for regulation. 
In so far as the necessities of the case require, chil- 
dren can usually be shown and convinced of the im- 
portance and necessity of rules of conduct. 

Experienced teachers usually feel that the best 
kind of school control is that which comes as a by- 
product of the regular work or activity of the 
schoolroom. As long as conduct itself is the focus 
of attention, pupils are apt to have a self-conscious 
and strained attitude toward it. But if the work 
which they are doing can be the object of their 
thought, matters of conduct will fall into their 
proper place in relation to it. 

A number of experienced teachers were once 
asked as to their chief method for securing results 
in discipline, and a great many of them said they 
depended upon hard work. In other words, it is a 
case of keeping the pupils so busy in helpful ways 
that the matter of conduct tends to take care of 
itself. In so far as the children can be made to feel 
that the standards are rational, that the authority of 
the school is not arbitrary but that it is merely 
reflecting the necessities of group life and group 
action, a correct basis for proper behavior is being 
set up. It is very important that the child should 
feel that the consequences of his actions are the 
results of what he himself does, rather than the 



SCHOOL DISCIPLINE 29 

results of authority imposed from above or from 
without. 

Teachers should be impersonal. — The second rea- 
son for failure in discipline is a wrong attitude on 
the part of the teacher. Often the teacher takes a 
personal attitude rather than a judicial attitude 
toward the issues involved. So long as the teacher 
feels that the conduct of the child is a personal 
affront to herself, so long will she be in an unfav- 
orable position to deal with the question. 

In a court room a number of years ago a pris- 
oner who had been convicted of burglary was sen- 
tenced to fourteen years at hard labor in the 
penitentiary. After the sentence had been pro- 
nounced by the judge, the prisoner broke out into 
violent cursing against the judge, the jury, the 
court-house in which the trial was held, the sheriff 
who had him in charge and the community in which 
the crime had been committed. It was a very unex- 
pected outburst, and of course a great surprise to 
everybody in the court. At once every eye was 
fixed on the judge. All wondered what he would 
do. What cognizance would he take of that display 
of anger and violence? He looked calmly out of 
the window, and paid no attention whatever; he 
did not indicate that he even heard what was said, 
and he added nothing to what had been said; he 
took no cognizance of the act, and soon the sheriff 



3 o ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

took the prisoner out and disposed of him, and the 
judge called the next case. 

Why was the incident ignored ? Surely an offense 
had been committed there. Surely the court had 
ample authority to deal with that offense. Per- 
haps the judge felt that he was merely administering 
the law of the community in reference to the cul- 
prit. He was the judge as between the offender 
and the law. Any personal feelings on the part of 
the prisoner toward himself would not need to enter 
into the case in the slightest degree. 

To a certain extent, the teacher occupies a judi- 
cial position in administering school requirements. 
The real issue should always be between the offender 
and the laws of the group, rather than between the 
offender and the judge. 

In recommending this judicial attitude on the 
part of the teacher, no mere aloofness and lack of 
sympathy and interest in the pupils and in their 
welfare are advocated. Rather, emphasis is placed 
upon a certain impersonal quality in the administra- 
tion of justice. 

Teachers frequently lack poise and self-control. — 
A third point of failure is one which in some respects 
is at the root of the whole matter, and that is a lack 
of self-control on the part of the teacher. It is well 
known that you must first be in command of your- 
self before you are in a position to direct and con- 



SCHOOL DISCIPLINE 31 

trol others. "He that ruleth his own spirit is better 
than the mighty." But so many of the school situa- 
tions seem to be a direct temptation to the teacher 
to lose poise and self-control. 

In a city high school one afternoon when the 
session was just about to begin, one of the teachers 
who was in charge of a large study hall having 
about three hundred fifty pupils in it, came into 
the principal's office, said the room was in a tur- 
moil and that she didn't know what to do. She 
was an experienced teacher, and a very capable one, 
and had never before had such a situation arise. 

When the principal walked into the study hall, 
the entire room was in a condition of disorder: the 
children were stamping their feet; they were 
whistling, yelling, pounding their desks and produc- 
ing a condition of complete pandemonium. What 
was to be done? The principal took his place on 
the platform, stood by the desk and watched those 
boys and girls. He said nothing. He merely waited 
while they kept up their demonstration, and they 
continued it for a long time. 

But at length the excitement subsided and the 
room became quiet. Then he calmly asked the 
pupils what was the trouble. Some one replied 
that it had started by a dog coming into the room 
and somebody calling or whistling to the dog. 
Using that as a text, he gave them a little lesson 



32 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

in self-control. He showed them that what had 
happened there was not a reflection upon the 
teacher, but that it was simply an evidence of the 
fact that they could not control themselves in the 
presence of anything as exciting as a dog. He 
tried to present a sensible point of view regarding 
the question and show them that the whole diffi- 
culty was their own lack of self-control. 

Some weeks later a visitor in that room saw a 
dog lying upon the platform asleep in a patch of 
sunshine, and as the spot moved across the stage, 
he followed it, and continued to lie in the spot of 
sunshine. The pupils watched with amusement in 
a certain sense, but it didn't disturb them at all, and 
the visitor commented on the remarkable good sense 
and friendliness which they showed toward a situa- 
tion that had formerly caused a serious disturbance. 

Another school principal had this experience. 
One afternoon, on coming back from lunch, he 
noticed that some of the pupils had decorated the 
desk in the assembly room with a row of apples, 
bananas, cakes and other articles of food. He took 
charge of the room, busied himself about the desk, 
and the children seemed secretly much amused by 
the decorations that had been placed there. He, 
however, paid no attention whatever to them. Soon 
they began watching the expression on the faces of 
the children who came into the room and their 



SCHOOL DISCIPLINE 33 

looks of surprise became a matter of considerable 
amusement. After the roll had been taken and they 
were about to be sent to their classes^ the principal 
said to them rather blandly that he noticed that 
some one had left some articles of food on the desk 
and asked if it disturbed any one. No one would 
admit that it did, of course. "Now," he said, "if 
this disturbs any one, I shall have the janitor take 
it out. If not, we shall leave it where it is, as it is 
not bothering me in the least." So he rang the 
bell and the children marched out of the room, and 
as they came by the desk, it was just high enough 
so that this row of eatables was on a direct line with 
their noses, but they marched right by like a line 
of soldiers, without so much as casting an eye in 
the direction of the food. 

Such incidents indicate that many of the things 
which happen in school are a mere attempt on the 
part of the boys and girls to startle the teacher, or 
to tempt her out of her poise and balance. Children 
are human, and they like to tease, — but only those 
who can be teased. As soon as children find out 
that their provocative measures do not disconcert 
the teacher, they cease to attempt them. It is difficult 
to stand in the presence of forty or fifty children 
and maintain your composure in the face of an 
embarrassing or distressing situation, but it will do 
more to generate a spirit and a power of self-control 



34 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

in the children themselves than any other single 
factor. 

"He who has patience can have what he will." — 

A fourth point of failure is a lack of sufficient 
patience. Teachers are proverbially patient, but so 
often they feel that if a child has been corrected for 
a certain offense once or twice it ought not to be 
necessary to mention the same thing again. 

Is it not true, however, that moral growth, like 
any growth, is very slow? If you are training a 
plant or a vine to follow a trellis, you may have to 
place it many times in the way you wish it to grow. 
We must exhibit this same patience with children, 
even though we expect their own intelligence to 
cooperate with ours in producing the result which 
is desired. 

Discipline should promote character develop- 
ment. — The fifth point is a lack of the realization of 
the true purpose of school discipline. Too often 
we think of it in narrow terms as being merely the 
necessity of keeping order or of producing condi- 
tions in the school which will make helpful work 
possible, but there is a deeper purpose. The true 
purpose of school discipline is to produce true, high- 
minded, self-governing men and women. In other 
words, there is a fundamental life purpose in this 
subject, and everything that we do should be tested 
and tried in the light of this life purpose. 



SCHOOL DISCIPLINE 35 

Confidence in pupils is a strong incentive. — 
The sixth point is a wrong motivation on the part 
of the teacher in looking on the children with sus- 
picion, or with a lack of faith, instead of with trust. 
The strongest appeal that can be made to any of 
us is to have confidence placed in us by any one 
whom we respect. That appeals to all of the man- 
hood or womanhood there is in any human heart. 
Judge Ben Lindsey, of the Denver Juvenile Court, 
was once asked how he could send the boys whom 
he had sentenced to the reformatory from his court 
room in Denver to the institution eighty or ninety 
miles distant without any member of his court 
accompanying them. He replied, "If you speak to 
the heart, man becomes suddenly virtuous. I speak 
to their hearts, that is how I do it." It is not 
always that we have the insight and the genius to 
reach the hearts of our boys and girls, but it is a 
power to be coveted. 

Some one has called attention to the dual nature 
of human beings — that we possess two opposite sets 
of characteristics. If appealed to on one side, we 
are selfish, ungenerous, quarrelsome, spiteful and 
illiberal. If appealed to on the other side, we 
show the opposite of these qualities. Human nature 
has been likened to a team composed of a good little 
willing pony and a balky little brute of a donkey. 
The problem of the teacher is to address herself 



36 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

to the positive qualities, the generous side of the 
child, — to become the ally of his virtue. It may 
seem necessary to beat the donkey over the back, 
but you will only make him balky. He will pull 
backward. It is necessary to encourage and to 
become the partner of the child's better self. Help 
him to help himself, in short. "Be the kinsman of 
his virtue," as Emerson puts it. 

Proper penalties promote good discipline. — 
The seventh point is the failure to use the right 
means, that is, just penalties, penalties which shall 
be felt to be suited to the crime. The punishment 
should fit the crime. In general, punishments have 
become more scientific and more humane than they 
were formerly. That is true not only in school, it is 
true in society in general. We now have a con- 
structive view of this question of punishment, not 
merely a negative or a retributive idea. Punishment 
has its just place in the scheme of school discipline, 
because there are real and genuine offenses, and 
where there are such, there should be punishment. 

Spencer pointed out the analogy between the 
consequences of our acts in the natural world, and 
the results of our acts in the moral world, and he 
made that the principle upon which he would base 
all social punishments. He said that if you violate 
a natural law, such as putting your hand in the fire, 
or if you violate the law of gravitation, you suffer 



SCHOOL DISCIPLINE 37 

the consequences; there is no spirit of revenge on 
the part of nature, but you have broken one of her 
laws. The consequence follows "without haste, but 
without remorse." It is difficult to carry out that 
analogy in school punishments, because so often it 
is impossible to find what is the logical or the 
natural penalty to suit a certain offense. 

Repeated small offenses are very trying. — 
Probably the most annoying and the most difficult 
case of discipline in school life is the chronic small 
offender — the boy who is always doing something, 
but never doing very much. The chronic small 
offender — what shall we do with him ? He must be 
dealt with in such a way that you can accumulate 
his offenses — pile them up — that is all. That can 
be done by keeping a written record of his misdeeds. 
Sometimes it is desirable to have the boy himself 
do it. 

A superintendent once had a boy reported to 
him forty times in four months for minor offenses. 
In every case he secured an admission of guilt and 
a promise of improvement, and made a record of it. 

Shortly after that, he was reported to the office 
for a rather serious offense, so the superintendent 
told him to take his books, leave the school and not 
come back unless sent for. The boy's father 
appealed the matter to the Board of Education, and 
when the hearing was held, the superintendent pre- 



38 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

sented the definite record of the offenses, and was 
able to show that the school had done its full duty 
by the boy. The result was that school discipline 
was upheld and the boy excluded. If the case had 
been tried on the last offense only, or on a vague 
set of charges, it would doubtless have resulted 
quite otherwise. 

"You can not indict a whole nation." — A second 
type of offense that is exceedingly difficult to man- 
age is the school or group offense, where a large 
number of children are involved in the same misde- 
meanor. This is one of the most trying experiences 
with which a teacher can be confronted. The way 
to deal with it is to follow an old adage, "Divide and 
conquer/' The following illustration shows such a 
case and the way to deal with it. 

In an otherwise excellent high school of a thou- 
sand pupils it had been the custom for twenty years 
to initiate the freshman class with certain ordeals 
which often reached the extreme of physical vio- 
lence. This practise was participated in by former 
students and alumni, and was one of the estab- 
lished customs of the school. It had reached such 
proportions that the principal made up his mind he 
could tolerate it no longer, so he solved the problem 
of abolishing it in the following manner. 

The boys of the senior class were called together 
and the desirability of abolishing the custom pre- 



SCHOOL DISCIPLINE 39 

sented to them. They agreed that it would be better 
for the school if the hazing were discontinued. 
They all signed a voluntary agreement that they 
would not participate in it thereafter. In the same 
way, the other classes were induced to abandon the 
practise, except that in the second- and first-year 
classes there were a few boys who did not wish to 
agree. These were allowed to remain out of the 
agreement at first, but were later called in one by 
one and persuaded to agree. The result was that 
the customary initiation of freshmen was abolished 
and the school was not troubled further with it. 

There is a third device which is helpful in the 
case of a moral offense. You do not have a great 
many serious moral offenses, but in such cases the 
principle of probation and parole is very helpful. 
I have often paroled a boy to some teacher of his 
own selection and allowed the teacher to go on his 
bond, and guarantee the good behavior of that boy. 
The very fact that somebody will defend him places 
him in a condition of obligation which very few boys 
will violate. This is a device adapted from the 
juvenile court which can be applied in the above 
mentioned class of cases with good effect. 

There is a fourth class of cases — direct insubor- 
dination. There are not many of these, but where- 
ever positive lawlessness is met with, there is not 
very much to be done except to separate the defiant 



40 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

pupil from the institution. That is not so much a 
solution as it is a protection ; however, the school is 
justified in resorting to this means of protection, in 
extreme cases, just as is society itself. Such means 
should be used only as a last resort. 

Corporal punishment is not effective with adoles- 
cents. — What place has corporal punishment in the 
system of school discipline ? Prior to the adolescent 
age, so long as a child has not distinguished between 
himself and his body, corporal punishment has a 
legitimate place, if properly administered. After 
the adolescent period, when the child is conscious 
of himself as distinct from his body, it does no good, 
but is positively injurious. Hence the best rule is 
never to use corporal punishment in the case of an 
adolescent pupil. 

The limitations to be placed upon corporal pun- 
ishment are those which are placed by the rules of 
the best schools : namely, that the discipline should 
be such as would be administered by a kind and 
judicious parent under similar circumstances. The 
main thing to remember is not to inflict corporal 
punishment in a spirit of anger or revenge or retalia- 
tion, or in a spirit of vindicating your own author- 
ity — your own sense of outraged dignity. 

The whole subject is well summarized in the 
following statement attributed to Socrates : 

"But I think that young men who exercise their 



SCHOOL DISCIPLINE 41 

understanding, and expect to become capable of 
teaching their fellowmen what is for their interests 
grow by no means addicted to violence, knowing 
that on violence attend enmity and danger, but 
that by persuasion the same results are attained 
without peril and with good will; for those who 
are compelled by us, hate us as if despoiled of 
something, while those who are persuaded by us 
love us as if they had received a favor. 

"It is not the part, therefore, of those who culti- 
vate the intellect to use violence, for to adopt such 
a course belongs to those who possess brute force 
without intellect. Besides, he who would use force 
has need of no small number of allies, but he who 
can succeed with persuasion alone, has need of 
none; for though left alone, he will still think him- 
self able to persuade." 

OUTLINE OF THE CHAPTER 

A. Importance of discipline. 

B. Why teachers fail. 

1. Lack rational standards. 

a. Authority should not be arbitrary. 

b. Punishment should fit crime. 

c. Cause and effect. 

2. Lack judicial attitude. 



Lack self-control. 

Lack patience. 

Do not realize true purpose. 

Show suspicion instead of trust. 



42 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

7. Do not use right means. 

C. Methods for various cases. 

1. Chronic small offender. 

2. Group offense. 

3. Moral offense. 

4. Insubordination. 

D. Corporal punishment. 

REFERENCES 

Bagley — School Discipline, Chaps. X-XIV. 

Bennett — School Efficiency, Chaps. XXIV, 
XXV, XXVI, XXXI. 

Betts — Class-Room Method and Management, 
Chaps. V, XXI, XXII. 

Cronson— Ptf/^7 Self-Governmen t. 

Dewey — Schools of Tomorrow, Chap. XI. 

O'Shea — Everyday Problems in Teaching, 
Chaps. I, II. 

TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION 

Describe the most difficult case of school discipline you 
know of. How was it dealt with? Could this treatment of it 
have been improved? What is the effect of punishing an 
entire group of pupils for the misdeed of one or two who may- 
be unknown ? How would you discipline boys who broke into 
the school building and damaged school property? What 
would be the effect upon a school if the teacher began the 
term with the challenge: "If you wish to find out who is run- 
ning this school, start some trouble" ? Do you know a teacher 
who failed in discipline? What were the reasons for failure? 
Are modern methods of discipline more efficient than those 
of former years? In what way is school discipline related 
to conduct outside of school? Do you believe in corporal 
punishment? Give reasons. 



CHAPTER IV 



METHODS OF TEACHING 



The teactier is more an artist than an artisan. — 

Teaching is an art, and as an art it has its own prin- 
ciples and its own technique. It is important to 
remember that the teacher is not an artisan; and 
while teachers may sometimes feel that they are 
forced to become more or less mechanical by the 
restrictions of the course of study, the limited hours 
of the school program and the numbers of children 
with which they have to deal, yet the work is individ- 
ual and creative. The teacher is not a taskmaster, 
but a partner in the enterprise. 

The work of teaching is like that of the architect 
because while there are limitations imposed by the 
conditions under which the work is done, neverthe- 
less, the teacher must plan the instruction for each 
child and devise the means of making the work 
effective. 

Methods depend on the aims of education. — 
Method is merely a way of doing something. 
Therefore, all method presupposes a purpose. 

43 



44 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

Obviously, it is impossible to divorce the question 
of method from the question of aim. What are the 
aims of education? 

Education is concerned with two kinds of aims 
— the ultimate and the immediate. There is no 
general agreement on this subject among the writers 
and educational thinkers, and the reason it is so 
hard to agree is that fundamentally the object of 
education is the same as the object of life. Hence, 
in order to say what education is for, it must first 
be decided what life is for. At once, you see, we 
are confronted with a very profound question. 
What are the absolute values of life in the philo- 
sophical sense? 

The ultimate aim is service to the world. — 

Society agrees that there are certain absolute values ; 
things that are of worth in themselves apart from 
our need of them, or apart from our wish for them. 
There are certain abstractions for which every one 
would lay down his life instantly, yielding himself 
to an ideal of the value of which he should feel no 
question. Such ideals are progress, service to man- 
kind, justice and human welfare. These point to 
the social needs of the world and indicate that edu- 
cation must fit the individual to perform well his 
part in serving them. Effective social service is 
the ultimate aim of education. 

The immediate aim of education is the develop- 



METHODS OF TEACHING 45 

ing of the child in knowledge, in skill and in his 
emotions. School work is planned primarily to 
subserve this purpose. This points to the use of 
certain materials and methods. 

The materials must include the three elements 
named : knowledge, skill and ideals. How this can 
be done is discussed in Chapter VI. 

The method of education should be psychologi- 
cal. — The aim and materials of education having 
been determined, how is the teacher to proceed? 
What methods shall be used to accomplish the pre- 
determined results? The characteristic answer of 
modern pedagogy to this question is that the method 
shall be based on the way the mind of the child acts, 
rather than on the logical divisions of the subject- 
matter studied. It is a truism to say that child 
study has changed the entire point of view of all 
education. It has not been many years since the 
material of the adult world of science, history, litera- 
ture and mathematics was arranged in a formal, 
logical order, and children were required to "learn 
their lessons" whether or not they could under- 
stand them. 

The New England primer was one of the earliest 
examples of this. It consisted of selections from 
the Scriptures, without much attempt to adapt them 
to the comprehension of the children. 

The alphabet method of teaching reading was 



46 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

another case in which the logical divisions of the 
subject were considered rather than the mind of 
the child. We now know that words and sentences 
stand for ideas and are perceived as wholes, and 
we utilize this fact in teaching reading. A remark- 
able improvement in the results of the teaching has 
come from this change in method. 

Arithmetic teaching has been dominated by the 
idea of a logical method. The attempt has been to 
start with unity or one as a basic conception and 
build up the entire science of mathematics from it. 
But we are by no means sure that the child per- 
ceives in this way. We must develop a better 
psychological approach. 

In short, the modern educational world has the 
child for its center, and it seeks to afford him not 
only the needful subject-matter but the most eco- 
nomical and effective ways of mastering it. 

The principle of apperception. — One of the 
psychological principles which is most important in 
pedagogy is that of apperception. This means that 
the ideas already present in the mind determine its 
reaction to new ideas. Professor William James 
puts it in a very interesting way. He says : "Every 
impression that comes in from without no sooner 
enters our consciousness than it is drafted off in 
some direction or other, making connection with the 
other materials already there. It is the fate of every 



METHODS OF TEACHING 47 

impression thus to fall into the mind pre-occupied 
with certain ideas and interests, and by these it is 
taken in." 

Many examples of this principle will occur to 
every teacher. Emerson says that if one is intellect- 
ually bankrupt, it does no good to go to centers of 
learning or to parts of the Old World where great 
accomplishments have been brought about by men 
of former generations. He says it is a case of 
carrying ruins to ruins; what you take with you is 
the important thing as well as what you see there. 

Another example of apperception is the response 
of men of different occupations to the same situa- 
tion. Suppose three men are walking through a 
forest: one an artist, another a poet and another a 
lumber dealer. The painter would see the lights 
and shadows, the delicate tracery of leaves and 
branches, backgrounds and other technical elements. 
The poet would hear the birds in the trees' 
branches, and see in the scene before him the 
symbolic meaning which nature has for her votaries. 
It would speak to him a varied language. The lum- 
berman undoubtedly would note the kinds of trees, 
their value in the trade for various purposes, and 
he would probably make some estimate of the num- 
ber of thousands of board feet in a given portion of 
the woods. In other words, each would see that for 
which he was equipped, for which he was prepared. 



48 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

This principle is all-important. One writer has 
said that nine-tenths of all teaching exemplifies 
either the use or the abuse of the principle of apper- 
ception. You can readily see that in a room of 
forty children the same stimuli will not produce the 
same reactions, the same growth. Hence, instruc- 
tion must be adapted to the individual so that he 
will have suitable preparation for the understanding 
and perception of that which he is to learn. 

In the course of study in arithmetic of a large 
city there appears the suggestion that it would be 
well for the first-grade teacher to find out what 
knowledge of numbers the children have when they 
first come to school. That is a very sensible sug- 
gestion. Before beginning the work of instruc- 
tion with any class, the apperceptive basis of the 
pupils should be inquired into. The teacher who is 
aware of the necessity for that kind of inquiry will 
be a better teacher than one who bases the work on 
considerations of subject-matter alone. 

The principle of interest. — A second psychologi- 
cal principle is the principle of interest. Interest is 
the desire or tendency to devote one's attention to a 
subject. Therefore, the more interesting a subject 
is, or is made, the greater the attention which will 
be given it. 

The chief problem in teaching is from what the 
interest shall be derived. The best teaching uses 



METHODS OF TEACHING 49 

interests that are inherent in the subject rather than 
those that are artificial. Sometimes artifical inter- 
ests are the only ones available, but whenever pos- 
sible they should be avoided. 

A good many teachers have confused the idea 
of interest with the thought that it is designed to 
make everything easy or pleasant for children ; that 
is, that children shall not be required to do anything 
they don't wish to do. This is a false application of 
the principle. As a matter of fact, many things that 
are exceedingly hard are very interesting. You will 
often find a boy who will work overtime at some- 
thing that looks pretty strenuous to his teacher or 
parent, such as some of his games and sports, foot- 
ball and skating, or some favorite pursuit like 
electricity or nature study. 

Good teaching, therefore, is not based on what 
is sometimes called soft pedagogy. Things should 
not be required in a schoolroom either because they 
are easy or merely because they are hard. If the 
interest attaching to a subject be intrinsic, the ques- 
tion of difficulty will take care of itself. 

Another danger in connection with the subject 
of interest is that we sometimes overestimate chil- 
dren's interests in abstract thinking. Young chil- 
dren, as a rule, do not understand and are not 
interested in abstractions. Modern methods favor 
objective materials for instructional use, especially 



50 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

for the introduction of new subjects, and at all times 
for illustrative purposes. 

The principle of individual differences. — A third 
principle of psychology is the principle of individual 
differences. This is not a new idea at all. We 
have always known that children were not all alike, 
either physically or mentally. Classes in school 
have always shown marked differences, and teachers 
have always recognized that fact. In spite of the 
fact that schools have sometimes been accused of 
trying to produce a dead level of uniformity because 
the class method of instruction is used, teachers 
have always realized that the children did not all 
get the same thing out of what was presented. It is 
so in nature. It has been said that no two trees 
even in the same species are exactly alike. A field 
of corn which has been produced under identical 
conditions of sunlight, soil, moisture, heat and cold 
will not have ears of corn that are all alike. It is a 
beneficent provision of nature that human beings 
do react differently to the same stimuli. Hence, 
when a group of forty pupils conforms to a set pro- 
gram of work, the same number of hours, the same 
course of study, the same text-books, etc., there 
need be no fear that these forty children will all be 
alike intellectually. This subject of variability and 
its nature and extent is so important that an entire 
later chapter will be devoted to it. 



METHODS OF TEACHING 51 

The principle of attention.— Another important 
principle is that of attention. The mind works by 
focusing itself upon that which it seeks. It becomes 
sharper by concentration. Attention is voluntary to 
a large extent and can be fixed upon a subject con- 
sciously. Attention should be obtained by having 
the work interesting. The teacher who is obliged to 
ask for attention constantly will not obtain it so 
readily nor will the work be so effective as when the 
attention is obtained by the natural method of pre- 
senting the subject in such a way as to secure and 
hold the minds of the pupils. 

The principle of association. — A fifth principle 
is the principle of association. Briefly stated, the 
law of association is, present together the ideas 
which you wish to be together. The mind tends to 
associate with each other ideas and feelings which 
it receives together. The laws of teaching derived 
from this principle of association have not always 
been a true interpretation of it. They are very 
much better than they used to be. Strictly speaking, 
I suppose keeping a child after school is a violation 
of the laws of association, unless you wish to have 
him feel that the school is an undesirable place to 
be. In my day, we used to have to read the Bible 
for punishment, and children in that day associated 
the Bible with everything wrong and horrid they 
ever did. 



52 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

It is possible, of course, to over-emphasize or 
over-estimate the importance of this law of associa- 
tion, and yet it is a very important principle. If you 
have had a tragic or a happy experience, is it not 
true that some trivial incident may bring back to 
you the whole scene? I am sure that we are all 
conscious of such incidents in our lives. There are 
certain odors, certain sounds, that remind us of 
scenes that are either joyous or the opposite. In 
the experience of life, these associations come to us 
according to the exigencies of experience, and they 
can not be controlled; but in the schoolroom, it is 
possible to control them to a great extent, and to 
set up desirable and helpful associations in the mind 
of the pupil. 

The principle of reasoning. — There is the sixth 
principle of reasoning which need be mentioned only 
briefly. Reasoning is the process of judging facts. 
One author* says "it is that form of thought in 
which mind evolves relations among judgments." 
It implies a deliberate relating and evaluating of 
ideas. Under this head of reasoning are the two 
well-known forms, induction and deduction. These 
should be part of the working equipment of every 
teacher. The usual definition of induction is rea- 
soning from particulars to the general ; and of deduc- 



*E. L. Thorndike, Principles of Teaching. 



METHODS OF TEACHING 53 

tion, reasoning from a general principle to specific 
or particular conclusions. 

In applying inductive-deductive reasoning, the 
recitation has been outlined in five formal steps. 
These are : first, preparation ; second, presentation ; 
third, comparison and abstraction; fourth, generali- 
zation; and fifth, application. The first four steps 
are inductive, and the fifth is deductive. Strictly 
speaking, in the psychological sense, only the third 
step is inductive, but in a broader sense, it is all 
right to say that the first four are inductive. 

No one exercise, no one recitation, will probably 
ever be carried out exactly according to either the 
inductive or deductive process, or a combination of 
both. The chief value of these principles is not that 
they shall be applied in their philosophical form, but 
that they shall be used to guide the teacher in the 
organization and presentation of material whenever 
it would be helpful to do so. It is unnecessary to 
apply either of these principles uniformly, because 
to do so would do some violence to the subject- 
matter or to the child. 

The training of the will. — The seventh principle 
has to do with the training of the will. This is 
exceedingly important. Some one has said that the 
important thing to ask about a pupil when the pub- 
lic schools are through with him is not what does 
he know, nor even what can he do, but what will 



54 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

he do. In other words, not even knowledge, the 
possession of knowledge, and not even the knowl- 
edge of right and wrong alone is the supremely 
important thing, but rather the attitude of the pupil 
toward those facts — the characteristic will attitude 
of the child. Those are the vital factors in his edu- 
ation, because they are the characteristics that will 
carry over into life and determine his conduct. The 
training should be such as to make duty rather than 
whim or self-will the controlling motive of the child. 
This can be done by example, by formal instruction 
in correct principles, and by the use of school 
incidents. 

The training of the emotions. — The work of edu- 
cation should develop the right emotional reactions 
by encouraging and rewarding desirable feelings. 
The feeling of satisfaction which comes from work 
well done; of self-respect which comes from dis- 
charging a responsibility ; of pleasure in recognition 
by one's associates, these, and many others can be 
provided for in the well ordered school. In like 
manner, objectionable and harmful feelings can be 
eliminated to a great extent. Good teaching and 
good management will ever keep both these ends in 
view. 

A very important principle to be considered in 
this connection is that our feelings grow in harmony 
with our conduct. For example, consider the teach- 



METHODS OF TEACHING 55 

ing of patriotism. Patriotism is not just a feeling, 
but it is a feeling which grows out of certain acts 
and experiences. If the child can be given certain 
things to do which he knows are for the common 
good ; if he can be a participant in vital enterprises 
that concern his country; then any feeling that re- 
sults will be a feeling of patriotism. So often we 
think that patriotism is the desire to be useful to 
one's country. This is true, but if it stops there, the 
deepest patriotism does not result. 

As another example, suppose that a person lacks 
a good quality in his life — such as, generosity. How 
can you cultivate the spirit of generosity? Not 
just by wishing to be generous, but if you will per- 
form some generous act — serve the needy, visit the 
sick and afflicted — then you will realize the meaning 
of true kindness. In other words, the feeling will 
follow and tend to conform to the action. So often 
we reverse this whole process and take the impulse 
or the conviction or the desire, for the thing itself. 
That our feelings grow in harmony with our con- 
duct, is a principle which furnishes the secret of 
much very valuable training. 

Special methods of the recitation. — I shall omit 
here all discussion of special methods of the recita- 
tion; they are to be found in the references at the 
end of the chapter. These special methods are not 
altogether the result of psychological discovery; 



56 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

many of them were worked out empirically before 
we had a science of psychology ; the telling method, 
and the question and answer method — these things 
are intrinsic in the very nature of our task, and 
hence many of the plans which have been worked 
out empirically are found to be in accord with 
psychological principles, but not derived from them. 
A study of special methods will show the necessary 
variations in method due to the character of the 
subject-matter studied. A full discussion of this 
question is impossible in this book, but teachers 
will find a study of the subject most profitable. 

OUTLINE OF THE CHAPTER 

A. Teaching is an art. 

B. Method presupposes aim. 

1. Ultimate aim. 

2. Immediate aim. 

C. Method based on child psychology. 

1. Reading. 

2. Arithmetic. 

D. Principles of psychology applicable to teaching. 

1. Apperception. 

2. Interest. 

3. Individual differences. 

4. Attention. 

5. Association. 

6. Reasoning. 

7. Will. 

8. Emotion. 



METHODS OF TEACHING 57 

REFERENCES 

Bagley — Craftsmanship in Teaching, Chap. X. 
Betts — Class-Room Method and Management. 
Earhart — Types of Teaching. 
Thorndike — Principles of Teaching. 

TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION 

In what ways has psychology modified methods of teach- 
ing? Is psychology an exact science? What is its chief con- 
tribution to pedagogy? What are so-called "special methods" 
of teaching? Name and describe a special method. What are 
the dangers of special methods? What are some of the ad- 
vantages? What is the best present method of teaching 
reading? What is the project method? 



CHAPTER V 



INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 



Variations in mental ability are a matter of com- 
mon knowledge.— The subject of the adaptation of 
the instruction to the needs of individuals, or, as 
ordinarily denominated, the subject of individual 
differences, has a very intimate connection with the 
work of the teacher. 

Educators have always realized that children 
differ in their mental capacities and mental qualities 
just as they differ in appearance and physical char- 
acteristics, hence the modern doctrine of variation is 
not new. Individuals differ just as objects in 
nature differ; just as there are no two trees alike, no 
two stalks of corn alike. Nothing in nature is ever 
an exact duplicate of anything else. The system of 
identifying human beings by their thumb prints is 
an evidence of the fact that each person is individ- 
ualistic ; he is unique. 

Difficulty increased by compulsory attendance. — 
Of recent years, the problem of individual differ- 
ences has probably been complicated by the adoption 

58 



INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 59 

of compulsory attendance laws and the bringing into 
the schools of all children between given ages. This 
undoubtedly brings within the scope of school in- 
struction many individuals of diverse characteristics 
who otherwise would not be pupils in the schools. 

The usual method of grouping. — Ordinarily, we 
have been accustomed to think of children as being 
divided into three general groups or classes. First, 
the normal, or average group, and in this we place 
a majority of the children ; second, those of superior 
ability ; that is, better than the average ; and third, 
those who are of subnormal ability, or below the 
average. 

In general this grouping is correct and furnishes 
a broad basis for school procedure, but it must be 
conceded that the manner of choosing these classes, 
or forming these groups, is more or less indefinite. 
It is largely a matter of judgment, and we have not 
had any very definite means of putting a given child 
in one group or the other, unless he showed extreme 
characteristics. At the present time, psychology 
seems to be making a contribution to this subject. 
I will not go so far as to say that it has solved the 
question, but it has undoubtedly made a valuable 
contribution. We are in the position of a workman 
who is employed on a task which depends for its 
performance on the tools used for such work. If 
the tools are greatly improved, the work can be 



60 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

done with greater efficiency. Recently in a stone 
mill I saw stone being carved with a pneumatic tool. 
The speed and skill with which the work was done 
far exceeded the result possible with mallet and 
chisel. Therefore, we should examine with care the 
new tool which has been devised for more exact 
educational measurements. 

Thorndike says that the range of ability in 
school children of the same age is such that in the 
majority of cases, the most gifted children will, in 
comparison with the least gifted of the same age, do 
over six times as much in the same time, or do the 
same amount with less than one-sixth as many errors. 
This is a very surprising statement. In other words, 
it shows a degree of variability that is remarkable 
and which would have a marked effect upon teach- 
ing and the organization of school work. 

Principles of teaching based on variation. — 
The following general principles of teaching are 
based on the principle of individual differences. 
They are valid regardless of the method used to 
determine the amount of difference between chil- 
dren. The first is that stimuli must not be given to 
pupils in general, but to individuals or to groups 
characterized by the same peculiarities. That is, we 
are not to teach the child in the abstract, but we are 
to realize that we are teaching countless different, 
living individuals. 



INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 61 

The second principle is that it is important for 
the teacher to appreciate the point of view and the 
capacities of the child and not to attribute to the 
pupils her own abilities or her own point of view. 
This principle has been variously described by dif- 
ferent writers, but in essence, it simply means that 
because a thing may be easy for a teacher, she must 
not assume that it will be easy for a given child ; or 
if a thing is interesting to the teacher, she need not 
assume that it is therefore interesting to any par- 
ticular child. 

The third general principle is that when adapta- 
tion to individuals is not possible, the stimuli should 
be chosen which are for the greatest good to the 
greatest number. In other words, in dealing with 
a group we must work for group betterment if indi- 
vidual adaptation can not be brought about. 

The modern work of measuring the intelligence 
began with Binet, a Frenchman who first wrote on 
this subject about 1903. The principal contribution 
which he made to the subject, the paper in which he 
really set forth the possibility of measuring the intel- 
ligence by a definite scale, was about 1908. Hence 
the modern science of measuring the intelligence is 
only about twelve or thirteen years old. 

Amount of retardation is excessive. — Age-grade 
studies and age-progress studies have been made in 
the public schools for some years, and a large 



62 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

amount of retardation has always been revealed. 
The statistics for the entire country show an 
amount of retardation of from ten to fifteen per 
cent, of the total number of school children. This 
is an amount, which, if translated into the cost of 
instruction, would total more than one hundred 
million dollars. Ways must be found to reduce this 
enormous waste of money and time, and of the 
effort of teachers and pupils. 

Remedies based on changes in organization. — 

There have been various attempts to meet this condi- 
tion by administrative changes — various schemes of 
promotion, adaptations to the health conditions of 
the children, and plans for individualizing instruc- 
tion. I shall refer to some of these matters later in 
the chapter. 

Needs of superior children are not being met. — 

All the plans have been based upon the assumption 
that all children are capable of satisfactory school 
work under right conditions. We are beginning to 
find out that this assumption is not true, and that 
other measures will have to be taken to meet the 
needs of some. The plans for dealing with superior 
children have always been very defective. We have 
almost ignored the needs and the possibilities of the 
superior child. I do not mean that teachers have 
ignored it, but that education as a system has 
ignored it. We have assumed that the bright child 



INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 63 

would get very much more out of the same program 
of work than other children, and no doubt we have 
been correct in that assumption. But we have never 
been sure that we have provided for this bright 
child the opportunity to progress as he should. 

Statistics show that the number of very superior 
children is as great as the number of feeble-minded. 
All would agree, undoubtedly, that the welfare of 
society depends in a large degree upon the right 
education of superior children; and certainly from 
the standpoint of their needs, unless properly graded 
and properly advanced, they may form habits of sub- 
maximum effort and attainment. 

How shall children be classified? — Present-day 
classification of children in the public schools has 
been based upon chronological age, plus such esti- 
mates of the child's ability as teachers have been 
able to make. That gradation has been fairly satis- 
factory as a whole, but no doubt all would welcome 
any plan which would accomplish a more exact plac- 
ing of children where they belong in the educational 
scheme. Some of the difficulties of estimating a 
child's work and his ability from the kinds of tests 
and exercises which have usually been given are, 
first, the difficulty of estimating the value of the 
questions asked. In an examination as ordinarily 
given the questions are not evaluated; that is, as a 
rule the questions are considered to be of equal 



64 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

worth. As a matter of fact, the ability to answer one 
question may be worth ten times as much as the 
ability to answer another question in a given list. 
In the second place, as a rule, a great deal of atten- 
tion has not been paid to the rate of work. Yet the 
ability to complete a task within a reasonable time 
is a factor of great importance. 

The third difficulty is that we have never had 
any very exact standards of attainment ; that is, we 
have not known exactly the amount of work which 
should be done correctly by a pupil of a given 
grade; we have used our judgment, of course, and 
the use of judgment should not be deprecated; but 
the fact remains that the judgment of the teacher is 
certainly variable, and if something can be devised 
which will help out the judgment, it is certainly to 
be desired. 

Objections to class instruction. — The entire sys- 
tem of class instruction has been criticized on 
account of its supposed failure to meet individual 
needs. Some of the usual objections to group 
instruction are that it attempts to meet the needs of 
the average child, and second, that it tends to become 
mechanical, and third, that it causes the discourage- 
ment of the weaker pupils, and fourth, that it some- 
times disregards the health requirements of the 
individual; that is, that he is put under a strain 
which is injurious to him. 



INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 65 

Benefits of class instruction —On the other hand, 
there are certain admitted advantages of class 
instruction. In class work, the pupil learns that 
other children are as original or as stupid as him- 
self, and so understands his own ability in terms of 
the ability of others. This can not be accomplished 
under any plan of individual work. Secondly, the 
pupil comes into competition of all kinds in mat- 
ters of speed and accuracy, in good manners, 
and everything that pertains to the life of the youth. 
In the third place, he learns cooperation in group 
work. And in the fourth place, he develops a saner 
view of his own rights and duties, and a broader 
basis of human understanding and human sympathy. 

I have always believed that the class method has 
been under-estimated by writers on educational sub- 
jects, and that it is a far more efficient means than 
is ordinarily admitted. Often when a question is 
asked, the pupil who makes up his mind what he 
would answer to that question is more enlightened 
by the answer of one of his fellows which may be 
quite different from his own, than he would be if he 
had answered the question himself. In other words, 
this opportunity to compare his ideas and his 
thoughts and his ability with the same things in 
other children is a tremendous educational influ- 
ence and opportunity. I am sure we can all remem- 
ber times in our own class-room life when we were 



66 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

very glad that we were not called upon to answer a 
certain question when we had figured out the 
answer in our own mind, and were ready with the 
answer provided we were called on, and some one 
else gave an entirely different answer, and we found 
that we were quite off the track. 

I am also sure that the thousands of instances 
of that sort which are taking place every day are a 
splendid educational agency. The individual, if 
instructed alone, would lose all of these opportuni- 
ties of cooperation and of competition, and of group 
work, so that it is highly probable that the class 
method of instruction is far more advantageous 
than it is objectionable; that its advantages far out- 
weigh its disadvantages. 

Economy of this method. — It is sometimes urged 
in behalf of the class method that it is very economi- 
cal ; no doubt it is, but that in itself is a minor ques- 
tion from the educational standpoint. The mere 
fact that it is a cheap way to do the work would not 
justify it unless it were educationally superior, so 
that too much stress should not be laid upon the 
economy of the class method, although it may fairly 
be mentioned as one of the advantages. 

Children have abilities in common. — The fact of 
individual differences should not blind us to the 
similarities of children. The fact of differences may 
be emphasized until we lose sight of the fact that, 



INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 67 

after all, children have many things in common. 
Thorndike has pointed out that while children may 
differ in their likes and dislikes, almost all children 
like activity. They" may differ in their capacities, 
but almost all children have a greater capacity for 
concrete thought than abstract. Hence, individual 
differences do not prevent the application of general 
principles of instruction. In other words, in order 
to use the class method, it does not follow that all 
the children in the class must be exactly alike, nor 
even that they will necessarily get the same thing 
out of the work. 

The two factors which determine a child's abil- 
ity to do a given amount of work in a given time 
are his intelligence and his previous preparation. 
If we can find ways of estimating these two things 
with a fair degree of accuracy, we can tell approxi- 
mately where he belongs in the educational scheme. 

Testing intelligence.— In times past, it has been 
customary to test the pupil almost wholly on his 
previous instruction by an examination. As a rule 
this examination dealt chiefly with the knowledge 
and skill aspects of his training, and his ability was 
judged incidentally. It is true that an occasional 
question was asked to test the reasoning power of 
the child, but such questions were not the real basis 
on which the pupil was finally classified. 

To-day the testing of intelligence has been so 



68 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

worked out that it is possible to rate pupils quite 
accurately. 

The best and most accurate of these tests is the 
Stanford revision of the Binet system. This is fully 
described in Terman's Measurement of Intelligence, 
to which the reader is referred. By the use of these 
tests the various grades of mental ability can be 
determined with a degree of accuracy which is a 
great assistance to the teacher. 

As a result of testing many thousands of chil- 
dren and adults, it has been found that the amount 
of variation in intelligence is almost the same above 
and below normal. That is, there are practically 
the same numbers of bright and the very superior 
as there are of the dull and the very inferior. This 
fact is of great significance in teaching, because 
education of all kinds and grades has been too 
much inclined to neglect the super-normal children. 
We have not found as many of them in our schools 
as of the subnormal, or the below normal, although 
there have been as many, and we have made less 
provision for their care and their advancement than 
the condition demanded. Intelligence tests clearly 
show that there are just as many children above the 
normal as below, and that they vary in just about 
the same degree; that is, that the number of 
geniuses, to take the highest class, is practically 
equal to the number of seriously subnormal; on the 



INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 69 

other hand, the number of very superior mentality 
about equals the group of less subnormality, etc. 

You will notice that this distribution of intelli- 
gence corresponds roughly with the three groups 
that I gave in the beginning, of the normal or aver- 
age, and the superior, and the subnormal ; in general, 
that classification is correct. But this measurement 
enables us to differentiate within these groups, to 
classify more exactly, and it enables us to give due 
attention to the details of our problem rather than 
to take it en masse. 

The ordinary plan of classification of intelligence 
according to this Stanford revision is to classify 
any one with an intelligence quotient* of 140 or more 
as in the class of the genius; 120-140, very superior 
intelligence; superior intelligence, 1 10-120; normal, 
90-110; dullness, 80-90; border-line efficiency, 
70-80; below 70, feeble-mindedness. In this classi- 
fication, there are seven groups, instead of three, 
hence it permits a classification of pupils more 
nearly in accord with their ability. The value of 
this is self-evident. Once the need is found, instruc- 
tion can be adapted to capacity. Our modern school 
systems have made very good provision for the 
various classes of subnormal and mentally defective 
children. For a number of years, it has been cus- 
tomary to organize special classes, and even special 



: See Terman's Measurement of Intelligence. 



yo ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

schools for these children, and to give them the kind 
of work to which they are adapted. 

We have not, however, made equal provision 
for the other group, the superior; and to that I 
shall refer a little bit later. It is obvious that the 
results of mental tests in showing us the true distri- 
bution of mental ability, the extent of variation and 
its amount, will add markedly to the efficiency of 
education and to the welfare of society. This is a 
splendid contribution to pedagogy and every teacher 
should familiarize herself with the data regarding it. 

Testing knowledge and skill. — The second 
factor which must be determined in order to classify 
pupils correctly is the previous preparation. This 
is important because the work of any grade or class 
necessarily presupposes a knowledge of certain 
facts as the basis of present work. This previous 
instruction has always been judged by an examina- 
tion designed to test the pupil's knowledge and 
ability. The defects in this plan are that the ques- 
tions are not of known value and teachers differ 
widely in their judgment as to "passing." These 
difficulties have been met in the various forms of 
standard tests which have been devised. These tests 
are far more accurate than any previous measure- 
ments, and are a great help to the teacher in diagnos- 
ing individuals and groups. The subject is fully treat- 
ed in Monroe's Measuring the Results of Teaching. 



INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 71 

Provision for individual progress. — The practi- 
cal consideration for teachers and administrators is 
how can group instruction provide for individual 
progress. There are two general answers to this 
question. First, employ the same course of study 
for all, with re-grouping and promoting at frequent 
intervals. This is the plan most widely in vogue 
at the present time, although as ordinarily carried 
out the re-grouping and promoting is not done at 
sufficiently frequent intervals. The second plan is 
to have two' or more courses of study, differing in 
the amount of supplementary work to be done. 
This is practically the idea of having the minimum 
essentials included in a course of study that shall 
be covered by everybody, with additional work to 
be done by various groups in accordance with their 
ability. 

An example of the first type is the so-called 
Cambridge plan, which is described in E. P. Cub- 
berley's Public School Administration. An example 
of the second type is the Santa Barbara, California, 
plan, described in the Educational Review, March, 
1900. I shall not enter into a detailed description 
of these plans here as they may easily be found by 
those interested. In addition to these two general 
schemes, there are several other provisions for flex- 
ibility. For instance, there is the plan of furnishing 
extra teachers, or the Batavia system, so-called. 



j2 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

Likewise there is the plan of the ungraded room, or 
the teaching hospital, and a third, the Pueblo 
plan. All these plans have been tried out in various 
school systems; there is a complete literature of 
them, and any one who wishes the details of any of 
these schemes may find them in Monroe's Encyclo- 
pedia of Education. 

Flexibility is desirable. — The important consid- 
eration in regard to this whole subject is this : that 
flexibility should be provided for in some manner. 
In other words, we should not adopt the class 
method of instruction, and overlook the fact that 
adaptation to individual needs is essential in the 
system itself, and that some provision must be 
made whereby children can either advance at dif- 
ferent rates, or else can be given different amounts 
of work to do. In the second place, it is important 
that teachers should be sensitive to the differences 
in children, and should be skilful in detecting the 
degree of the effectiveness of the instruction. 

Sometimes we are so close to our problem that 
we can not see it in its true proportions. Sometimes 
we work with a group of children or with individu- 
als so long and so hard that we lose our sense of 
values, and as a result, we are apt to estimate the 
child as either too high or too low in ability and 
attainment. It is gratifying to know that the 
improvement in the means of testing both intelli- 



INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 73 

gence and previous preparation will render methods 
of instruction more effective and increase the 
teacher's confidence in her work. 

The use of standard tests. — 'Both teachers and 
administrative officials should be familiar with the 
subject of the scientific tests, and use them as an 
aid in instruction. While we should be entirely- 
open-minded in regard to this matter, we should not 
expect to find a panacea in any mere device, no 
matter how attractive it may be. We are in danger 
of going to extremes in a matter of this kind, 
because the doctrine is so attractive; it is so fine to 
think that we can be exact and infallible in dealing 
with human materials just as is the engineer in 
dealing with concrete and steel. 

The danger is, then, that the purpose of these 
tests shall be subverted and that these means will 
be used for their own sake. If a mechanic who had 
never had anything but a hand drill should be given 
an electrical drill, you wouldn't expect him to bore 
holes in a piece of metal instead of welding it if it 
needed welding, just in order to use his new tool. 

There is always a danger that a new means of 
doing something will be so interesting that we 
will use it for the pleasure of making it work. So 
that what we need is to keep a sense of proportion, 
to know our objectives, and our means of reaching 
them, and to utilize every bit of help that may come 



74 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

to us from science, but not to submerge our whole 
educational program in the mere manipulation of 
any method, no matter how interesting and attrac- 
tive in itself. 

As laboratory experiments these tests are very 
interesting for their own sakes, but as teachers who 
are engaged in a creative work, our concern is 
something other, nothing less than the most skilful 
adaptation of instruction to the needs of the indi- 
vidual child. 

To this end, the child must not be required to 
fit the system, but all the materials and processes 
of education shall be selected and used that the 
child may have the opportunity to the highest 
development and the most useful service. 

OUTLINE OF THE CHAPTER 

A. Variations in mental ability a matter of com- 

mon knowledge. 
i. Difficulty increased by compulsory 
attendance. 

2. Usual method of grouping. 

3. Principles of teaching based on variation. 

a. Stimuli adapted to individuals. 

b. Teacher must have child's view-point. 

c. Stimuli adapted to greatest number. 

B. Age-grade studies show marked retardation. 

1. Attempts to meet condition by adminis- 
trative adjustments. 



INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 75 

2. Assumption that all children are capable 
of satisfactory work. 
C Needs of superior children not met. 

1. Number greater than usually thought. 

2. Value to society. 

3. Danger of developing habits of sub- 

maximum effort. 

D. Present classification based on chronological 

age. 
1. Rating of pupils not accurate. 

a. Questions not evaluated. 

b. Rate of work ignored. 

c. No exact standard of attainment. 

E. Criticisms of class or group instruction. 

1. Objections: 

a. Attempts to meet needs of average 

child. 

b. Tends to become mechanical. 

c. Discourages weak pupils. 

d. Disregards health requirements. 

2. Advantages : 

a. Pupil rates his ability in terms of 

others. 

b. Competition. 

c. Cooperation. 

d. Human understanding. 

3. Economy of class method. 

F. Children have abilities in common. 

1. Group instruction possible. 

G. Child's ability conditioned by two factors: 

1, Intelligence. 

a. Means of testing. 

2. Previous training. 



76 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

H. Provisions for individual progress. 

1. Same course of study with individual 

promotions. 

2. Two or more courses of study. 

3. The extra teacher plan. 

4. The ungraded school. 

5. Promotion by subjects. 
I. Flexibility should be provided. 

REFERENCES 

Bulletin 461 — U. S. Bureau Education — Provi- 
sion for Exceptional Children in Public Schools. 

Educational Review — March, 1900. 

Goddard — School Training of Defective Chil- 
dren. 

Holmes — Backward Children. 

Holmes — School Organization and the Individ- 
ual Child. 

Kirkpatrick — Fundamentals of Child Study. 

Ribot — Heredity. 

Terman — The Measurement of Intelligence. 

Thompson — Heredity. 

Thorndike — Principles of Teaching, Chap. VI. 

TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION 

To what extent is the public school system a "lock-step" 
system? Does the class or group method of instruction allow 
for differences in the ability of pupils ? How wide a range of 
ability will be found in the average class? How can this 
ability best be tested? What is the "'intelligence quotient"? 
Is it an accurate mark of mental ability? Should pupils be 
promoted oftener than once a term? When is a pupil con- 
sidered to be "retarded"? How much retardation should 
there be in an average class? How can retardation be 
reduced ? 



CHAPTER VI 



THE COURSE OF STUDY 



The science of curriculum making is in its 
inception. — This subject is of special interest at this 
time because the science of curriculum making is 
just beginning. Heretofore, the course of study has 
been partly traditional, partly experimental, and has 
been formed in an empirical rather than a scientific 
manner. At present the course of study is under 
investigation and the methods of constructing it are 
being reduced to their formal steps. Several books 
have been published giving the results of these 
studies, the titles of which will be found on pages 
92 and 93. Several cities are revising their courses of 
study in accordance with the newly formulated prin- 
ciples. Without doubt these courses will be better 
adapted to the needs of the pupil and of society. 

The course of study is determined by the aims of 
education. — What is a course of study? It com- 
prises the materials of education. We have dis- 
cussed in this book hitherto the aims, the purposes 
and the methods of instruction. Now we are to 

77 



yS ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

consider the materials. Obviously, the materials 
will be determined largely by the aims of education. 
As generally agreed upon, the kinds of materials to 
be used in a course of study must cover both the 
knowledge side of life and human experience, and 
also the training side, or the side of processes. In 
other words, information is not the only object of 
the course of study, but training in certain skills, 
and habits, and also the development of ideals. 

The importance of knowledge. — The idea that 
the curriculum must contain knowledge elements is 
an old one. Schools have always had an important 
function as the savings-bank of society, by which 
the accumulated knowledge of the past is stored up 
and transmitted to the new generation. There is a 
certain attainment, a race heritage, of science and of 
information in many fields — history, geography and 
literature. Unless that accumulation could be 
transmitted to each succeeding generation, it would 
be necessary for each generation of children to 
begin at the beginning and rediscover all the facts 
for themselves. Obviously, this would be a great 
waste of time and effort. 

Not all facts can be studied. — Of course, it is not 
possible for the new generation to begin where the 
old one left off, but it can begin very much further 
ahead than would be possible if the knowledge side 
of the course of study were ignored. The knowl- 



THE COURSE OF STUDY 79 

edge elements of the curriculum then are fundamen- 
tal. But there is so much knowledge in the world 
to-day, — the accumulations are so vast. As Emer- 
son has said in the Essay on Books: "In 1858, the 
number of printed books in the Imperial Library at 
Paris was estimated at eight hundred thousand vol- 
umes; with an annual increase of twelve thousand 
volumes ; so that the number of printed books extant 
today may easily exceed a million. It is easy to 
count the number of pages which a diligent man 
can read in a day, and the number of years which 
human life in favorable circumstances allow to read- 
ing, and to demonstrate that, though he should read 
from dawn till dark, for sixty years, he must die in 
the first alcoves." Therefore, it is important that 
the course of study should not contain just any facts, 
but fundamental facts, essential facts, typical facts, 
facts which are centers of systems, facts which are 
principles, around which whole families of facts 
may be grouped. 

Knowledge of social relations is important. — 
In these days, also, great emphasis is being placed 
upon a knowledge of social relations and institu- 
tions. The school is not an isolated organization, 
but it is an integral part of the society which sup- 
ports it. Therefore, the knowledge should have a 
social reference. In these days especially, we are 
emphasizing the social side by thinking a great deal 



80 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

about civic relationships, training for citizenship, 
and true Americanism. These elements are vital 
and are one of the chief reasons for the school's 
existence. 

A knowledge of vocational conditions is im- 
portant. — Another recent element that has entered 
the curriculum is the subject of vocational studies. 
During the past ten years great strides have been 
made in vocational education, and no doubt the 
future will witness still greater development. There- 
fore the course of study must contain the essentials 
of information about vocations, although up to the 
present time vocational information has not been 
available to any very great extent or in any very 
usable form. That is partly due to the fact that 
society is becoming increasingly complex, and the 
facts change so rapidly that a definite literature of 
the subject is difficult to formulate. 

The conditions of training in industrial, in com- 
mercial, and even in professional life are in a condi- 
tion of rapid flux. No one has yet made any exten- 
sive compilation of vocational information. The 
current federal census will be exceedingly significant 
and interesting, because in it will be found classifi- 
cations of occupations and many facts in regard to 
vocations in America which have developed since 
the census of the previous decade. 

The development of skill. — The second general 



THE COURSE OF STUDY 81 

set of conditions necessary in a curriculum are the 
provisions for the attainment of skills. This is 
essential because knowledge by itself is not power. 
It is power only when used or applied. It has long 
been the practise to ridicule the person whose head 
is full of unrelated and unusable facts — the walking 
encyclopedia. This illustrates the point that the 
world believes, and we educators believe with it, 
that knowledge alone will not suffice. Skill in any 
line of work is developed by repetition, and prac- 
tise, and, too, by practise under controlled condi- 
tions. The training value in school life is enormous, 
not only in the study of various subjects themselves 
where technical skills are developed, as in arithmetic 
or penmanship, but in the development of the so- 
called school habits : industry, punctuality, regularity 
and other similar qualities. 

All of these grow out of the fact that the school 
is a training ground. Some writer has called atten- 
tion to the fact that the word "curriculum" means 
either a race course, or the race itself, but the root 
meaning of the word "curriculum" is activity. It is 
a doing, rather than a mere learning. The idea of 
the element of skill in a course of study, should not 
be restricted to the skills developed in connection 
with the study of certain subjects, but it should be 
extended to cover the pupil's entire behavior. It 
should include his ability to apply outside of the 



82 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

school what he learns in the school. From this 
broad standpoint, it can be seen that skills are in 
many respects the largest outcomes of school 
training. 

The development of ideals. — The third element 
that must enter into the curriculum is the provision 
for the creation of ideals, or attitude toward life. 
This covers the whole question of tastes, standards, 
enthusiasms, ambitions, desires, aversions, apprecia- 
tions, etc. In short, it covers the whole question 
of the volitional or the will attitudes of the child. 
This field has been left to the accidental, or perhaps 
it would be fairer to say to the informal part of 
school life, and it is commonly agreed that school 
situations themselves are the chief means to be used 
in the development of these qualities. 

Some one has said that it is important, not only 
to know what is true, but to place a value upon that 
truth. In a sense, this is the most fundamental of 
all the questions pertaining to education, because it 
concerns the final goal of one's efforts. It has to do 
with one's definition of the absolute values of life. 
Of course, translated into terms of childhood it may 
not seem so profound as that, but if rightly pro- 
vided for, it will afford the child at his various 
stages the necessary training which will lead to a 
life philosophy when he reaches a wider field of 
experience. These three elements, then, must enter 
into the materials. 



THE COURSE OF STUDY 83 

Principles of organizing subject-matter. — After 
the materials have been determined, the question 
then arises, how are they to be organized ? In gen- 
eral, there are two principles of organization of 
materials which have been followed. First, there 
is the logical order. The subject of history has 
usually been taught chronologically, because that is 
the way it happened. The educational philosophy 
put forth by Froebel and Pestalozzi was to find the 
simple elements in all subjects, present them, and 
then go from the simple to the complex. All of 
education down to the very recent years has been 
dominated by this simple-to-complex theory. It 
appears to-day, however, in the light of modern 
psychology that that is not the way all subjects are 
acquired by the child. Modern psychology claims 
to have made the discovery that the child learns, by 
the analysis of a complex situation for himself. 

This changes the whole point of view of organi- 
zation. In so far as the psychological method of 
organization is possible it should be employed. The 
modern project method is nothing more nor less 
than an attempt to find larger wholes, the complex 
situations which carry within them the necessary 
elements which the child may comprehend by his 
own analysis. For this reason, the project method 
has very much of value attaching to it. 

Another advantage of the psychological method 



84 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

of organizing subject-matter is that by it, it is more 
nearly possible for the material to advance step by 
step with the development of the child. The logical 
order has to do with the necessities of the subject- 
matter and its unfoldment, without much reference 
to the capacity of the child and his development. 
The only difficulty here, is that the contributions of 
psychology to this question are comparatively 
meager, and where we look for exact answers, we 
are met with generalities. 

The scientific method. — What is the so-called 
scientific method of curriculum making to which I 
referred earlier in the chapter? It is based on the 
theory that the psychological or educational labora- 
tory can measure and evaluate different types of 
educational processes and results. In some fields, 
we know a fair degree of success has been attained. 
An interesting example of this is the various studies 
that have been made of spelling lists — words selected 
from the vocabularies of children of various grades, 
based on the frequency of occurrence of the words. 
Probably the perfect word list has not yet been dis- 
covered, but undoubtedly the modern spelling book 
with its four or five thousand words is very much 
nearer a usable list than the older books which were 
selected on a dictionary basis without very much 
reference to their use. Comparison of the old-time 
spelling books with the modern books would be very 



THE COURSE OF STUDY 85 

interesting from this standpoint. Other examples 
of attempts to measure rather exactly, either educa- 
tional processes or educational materials, will occur 
to you. It is unnecessary to go into further detail. 

Recent writers on scientific curriculum making 
have criticized modern courses of study as being 
accidental to a large degree, and as being the result 
of following tradition or other ill-defined purposes. 
One of the opening paragraphs in Bobbitt's Curric- 
ulum states : "We have aimed at a vague culture, a 
little defined discipline, a nebulous, harmonious de- 
velopment of the individual, an indefinite moral 
character building, a social efficiency, or often 
enough nothing more than escape from a life of 
work. Often there are no controlling purposes; ob- 
jectives are but vague guesses, or not even that." 

Contrast with that a quotation from the Indiana 
statute: "School authorities shall have taught in 
the common schools, orthography, reading, writing, 
arithmetic, geography, English grammar, physi- 
ology, history of the United States, scientific tem- 
perance, and good behavior, and such other branches 
of learning as the advancement of the people may 
require, and the trustees and other officers in control 
direct.' , 

This is definite enough to be sure. Of course, 
it may be objected that the statute has not defined 
the content of these subjects nor the methods by 



86 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

which they shall be taught. This is true, but if it 
be concluded that on that account society is leaving 
this whole matter of the curriculum to somebody's 
blind guess, that would be a very great mistake. 
There is no subject in which the public takes so 
great an interest. The present subjects in the 
course of study have been placed there in response 
to a definite public demand, and whenever that 
demand calls for other subjects, they will be 
included. If a school official were to introduce a 
subject of which the community did not approve, 
he would not be left long in the belief that vague- 
ness and nebulousness were prominent factors in 
curriculum making. 

During the past year, there was legislation in 
several states with reference to the teaching of the 
German language and other foreign languages. It 
is unnecessary to multiply instances. The facts 
point to a very definite social reference as the basis 
of the curriculum. 

The course of study is a social product. — In our 
society, which is democratic, and which functions 
through free institutions, the action of the social 
body itself results in a certain product. That 
product is not the less definite and concrete because 
it is generated socially. For example, consider the 
matter of legal enactments. Thousands of laws are 
passed every year by the various state legislatures 



THE COURSE OF STUDY 87 

and assemblies as well as by Congress. These are 
laws in one sense, but before they become real laws, 
they have to be interpreted by decisions of courts. 
There are thousands and thousands of laws which 
were enacted but which never became a part of the 
common law of this land at all. They simply died 
a natural death, either because they had no func- 
tion and hence no court ever had to pass upon them, 
or because the courts found them to be of no use. 
If you should ask a good lawyer about a certain law 
that had been passed but never acted upon by the 
courts, he would tell you that he did not know 
whether it was a law or not. 

In other words, what it takes to enact law 
finally is this action and interaction; this grinding 
process of the great social organism. Our courses 
of study result from something like that. They are 
a very definite product of our civilization. As indi- 
cated above the present subjects in the course of 
study were put in in response to a very definite 
social need. It is true that somebody somewhere 
may have introduced something tentatively, which 
continued for a little while, and by and by disap- 
peared, but the subjects that become a part of the 
course of study of this land go through a very dif- 
ferent process. 

Neither is it the case that this social process 
produces a course of study consisting of a tradition- 



88 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

al body of knowledge handed down to us which we 
are using because we haven't initiative enough to 
do anything different. It isn't necessary to make 
such an assumption in order to make a case for 
science. The contribution of science to this problem 
will be very valuable and will help in the selection 
and organization of materials, but the result will not 
be widely at variance with the present courses. 

Essentials of the scientific method. — What are 
the principles of scientific curriculum making? The 
first is the assumption that the total range of 
human abilities, habits and knowledge is the objec- 
tive of the course of study, and furthermore that 
this objective may be discovered by an analytic 
survey of human nature and human affairs, and 
that the curriculum will consist of that series of 
experiences which children must have to attain 
this objective. In particular, it is assumed that 
the curriculum should supply objectives not suffi- 
ciently attained as a result of outside experience. 
That is, that the undirected life of the child will 
bring about certain development and certain train- 
ing that it is the function of the school to provide; 
especially those processes which are absent from the 
casual experience of the child. 

Supplementing experience. — From this stand- 
point, the curriculum consists chiefly of the material 
necessary to supply the things which the pupil does 



THE COURSE OF STUDY 89 

not obtain in his ordinary experience. Illustrations 
of this may be seen in the various subjects added to 
the curriculum within the last few years. Agricul- 
ture, for instance, has been added, and domestic 
science, and hand work of many sorts. In an. earlier 
day, in a more pioneer condition of society, the child 
had these experiences in daily life and it was not 
necessary to have them in school ; but as these things 
disappear from the home life society asks the school 
to include them, if it considers such training 
important. 

The value of this method. — It may be objected to 
the scientific method of curriculum making that it 
is not truly scientific; that it is not sufficiently 
exact; that its materials are not objective; and that 
its results are not capable of verification. These 
criticisms are valid from the standpoint of science, 
but on the other hand, the process may be helpful 
and may throw light on the problem even though it 
does not fully solve it. The endeavor to find 
objectives in the adult world, and to supply the 
material and processes which will attain those objec- 
tives in the schools will clarify our thinking and 
enable us to form our courses of study intelligently. 
Just as the use of mental measurements and stand- 
ard tests is not scientifically accurate and yet is 
significant and does help us to make a diagnosis and 
to select and apply the right educational means, sq 



go ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

this application of science to the making of the cur- 
riculum is of great value. It shows that the curric- 
ulum is related to life ; and that the training which 
is to be provided is furnished because of the fact 
that it is necessary in life outside of the school. In 
so far as we study the needs of society and the pro- 
cesses in school which will develop the qualities in 
children which will meet those needs, just to that 
extent we are going to definitize our problem and 
be better teachers. 

The development of individualism. — We should 
not over-emphasize the sociological aspect of this 
question and fail to mention the needs of individual 
development. The course of study really depends 
upon the interaction of the two elements, the needs 
of the individual for the development of his powers 
and of his highest capacities and abilities, and the 
needs of society for a certain kind of service. If 
we were to focus our thought entirely upon the 
individual and his training, we might develop a gen- 
eration of freaks; we might increase the individual 
powers and capacities in ways not useful to nor 
needed by society. On the other hand, if we look 
exclusively at the social needs, and attempt to fit 
the boys and girls to occupy places in adult life, we 
may then produce a kind of dead level of humanity 
which would avoid the development of powers 
beneficial to civilization. 



THE COURSE OF STUDY 91 

It is the interaction of these two elements, the 
needs of society for certain kinds of service on the 
one hand, and the needs of the individual for growth 
and development on the other which determine the 
course of study. If we can solve the problem with 
both these elements in view, and meet the needs, 
both of society and of the developing individual, 
then we have attained the desideratum in curriculum 
making. 

Teachers and school officials should face this 
question of curriculum making in the spirit of the 
student, and should welcome all of the assistance 
and all of the light to be had from science and from 
experience, to the end that our schools and our work 
with our boys and girls shall develop in them the 
qualities which they need to fit them to take their 
places and do their best service in their world. 

OUTLINE OF THE CHAPTER 

A. Special interest at this time. 

B. Nature of course of study. 

1. Determined by aim of education. 

2. Comprises both knowledge and training 

elements. 

C. Course of study must provide: 

1. Knowledge. 

a. Fundamental. 

b. Social relations. 

c. Vocational. 



92 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

2. Skill. 

a. The application of knowledge. 

b. Repetition. 

c. Habits, 

3. Ideals. 

a. Attitude toward life. 

b. Evaluation of facts. 

c. Life philosophy. 

D. Principles of organizing subject-matter. 

1 . Logical. 

2. Psychological. 

3. Scientific method. 

a. Based on theory of accurate evalua- 

tion. 

b. Criticisms of current courses over- 

done. 

c. Legal and social aspects. 

E. Principles of scientific curriculum making. 

1. Selection of objectives from adult life. 

2. Supplying materials and processes for 

attainment of objectives. 

3. Supplementing experience. 

4. Objections to scientific method. 

5. Value of scientific method. 

F. Development of individualism. 

REFERENCES 

Bagley — Educational Values. 
Bennett — School Efficiency. 
Betts — Class-Room Method and Management, 
Chaps. VII, VIII. 

Bobbitt — The Curriculum. 



THE COURSE OF STUDY 93 

Butler — Meaning of Education. 

Chancellor — Our Schools. 

Charters — Methods of Teaching. 

Cubberley — Public School Administration, 
Chaps. XVII, XVIII, XIX. 

Dewey — School and Society. 

Dewey — The Child and the Curriculum. 

Earhart — Types of Teaching, Chaps. I, II. 

Gordy — A Broader Elementary Education. 

Hall-Quest — The Text Book. 

James — Talks to Teachers on Psychology, 
Chap. IV. 

Klapper — Principles of Educational Practice. 

McMurry — Course of Study in the Eight Grades. 

Payne — Public Elementary School Curricula. 

Prince — Courses of Studies and Methods of 
Teaching. 

Ruediger — Principles of Education, Chap. X. 

U. S. Bureau Education — Bulletin 38, 19 13. 

TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION 

To what extent is the course of study based on tradition? 
What finally determines the subjects which shall be included 
in the course of study? Obtain a course of study of twenty 
years ago and compare it with a modern course. What are 
the chief differences? How is the course of study usually 
formulated? To what extent does the community have a 
voice in making the course of study? What is the relative 
worth of practical and cultural elements in the course of 
study? Give an example of a modern scientifically organized 
course of study. > 



CHAPTER VII 

HOME STUDY AND SUPERVISED STUDY 

Recitation work better organized than study. — 
It is probably true that schools have paid more 
attention to method in the recitation, to the careful 
determination of the steps of the recitation, and to 
its use as a means of instruction than to the pupil's 
study or preparation of the lesson. It is also prob- 
ably true that a great deal of the studying which 
children do is left to their own initiative and inge- 
nuity. Since the major factor in learning is the 
activity of the mind, it is fully as important to direct 
the study and preparation of the pupil as to test 
him by means of the recitation. 

Methods of study are important because they are 
related to the learning process. — The subject of 
supervised study, then, is of exceptional interest, 
because of the fact that it is concerned with the 
question of how children learn, and also because it 
has to do with the extent to which the activity of 
the child in his study must be directed or controlled. 
Of course, if he is perfectly competent to be set to a 

94 



HOME AND SUPERVISED STUDY 95 

task and allowed to follow it without suggestion or 
direction, it will be a waste of time to devote much 
thought to supervising him. 

Opposition to outside study. — Home study is 
often opposed by parents. The time of many chil- 
dren is disposed of in other forms of activity, such 
as home duties, "chores" or gainful pursuits. Many 
parents feel that the school should give academic 
instruction, but that outside of school the child 
should have an opportunity to devote himself to 
some activity which will train him in useful and 
practical matters by actual experience. But in spite 
of these objections the crowded school curriculum 
and the short school day have necessitated a certain 
amount of outside study in most schools. 

Objection has also been raised that the health of 
a child may possibly be jeopardized by spending too 
many hours in hard mental work. While this is 
true, as a matter of practical experience, it rarely 
happens. A more valid objection is that too much 
time spent on study tends to train the pupil in poor 
mental habits. It is apt to result in a diffused type 
of mental activity, rather than concentrated effort. 

The disadvantages of home study are more 
imagined than real; they can all be overcome by 
proper planning, and systematization, and they are, 
after all, a negligible factor in the discussion of this 
question. The real difficulty with home study is 



96 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

in controlling it, in directing it, and in knowing the 
character of it. For that reason, only certain kinds 
of work should be allowed to be done at home. 
There would be considerably more detriment to the 
pupil in preparing arithmetic at home than history, 
or some phases of English work. Whatever is done 
outside of school should be done under as carefully 
controlled conditions as possible in order that the 
work may not merely be done for the pupil by 
another. 

Supervised study needed because of class-room 
method. — In considering the question of supervised 
study at school, one of the first difficulties is the 
fact that the traditional class-room method causes 
the teacher to hear one class recite while another is 
studying. This makes it almost impossible for the 
teacher to give very much time or to devote very 
much thought or effort to the supervision of prepa- 
ration. This means that the teacher is therefore 
forced to judge quite largely from the recitation 
what the child has accomplished by his study, and 
the manner in which he has obtained his results. 

Administrative solutions. — This question is an 
administrative one as far as providing the time for 
it is concerned. If the teacher is required to hear 
one class recite while the other class is studying it is 
obviously a question of administration to change 
that plan. There are several ways of doing this. 



HOME AND SUPERVISED STUDY 97 

One of the ways which is commonly offered as a 
solution of this problem is known as the Batavia 

plan. 

Batavia plan.— The essential feature of this plan 
is that it furnishes additional teachers who cooperate 
with the class-room teachers by supervising the 
study of pupils while the class teacher is hearing a 
recitation. By this means, individual instruction is 
given, and the pupil is assisted in the very points in 
which he needs help. The plan is an excellent one 
and has been generally used with good results. 

Two objections have been raised against it. 
First, that it adds to the cost of instruction, and 
second, that by it weaker pupils are made more 
dependent rather than stronger. These are easily 
refuted. As to the cost, it has not been shown that 
the added cost is out of proportion to the results 
secured ; and as to weakening the pupils, that would 
depend upon the way the instruction was given and 
would not constitute a defect in the plan. Individual 
instruction should assist the progress of the pupil 
and will do so if properly given. The value of any 
system is determined by the manner of applying it, 
and as to the value of supervised study, educational 
opinion is entirely favorable. 

Oakland City plan.— Another plan is one in 
vogue at Oakland City, Indiana. This provides 
that each child shall make out a complete schedule 



98 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

of all the time which he devotes to school tasks, 
including the periods when not reciting at school, 
and the study done at home. In other words, this 
plan does not advocate any particular division of his 
time, but it requires that he make a definite and sys- 
tematic program of work in the belief that more 
will be accomplished than by leaving the matter to 
impulse. In other words, it is exactly comparable to 
the carrying out of a household budget and personal 
expenses; it requires you to keep account of that 
which you do without prescribing just what you 
shall do. The reports of this plan in the educational 
journals are quite favorable to its operation as far 
as Oakland City is concerned. 

Newark plan.— There is still another plan of 
accomplishing the same purpose in vogue in Newark, 
New Jersey. It is a double period of sixty minutes, 
the first portion of which is spent in recitation, the 
second portion in conference or independent study 
under the direction of the teacher. All three of 
these plans are administrative attempts to solve this 
problem in terms of revision of the schedule, and 
the amount of help that can be given the pupil. 

Pedagogical solution.— But the question is a 
pedagogical one, so far as knowing how to supervise 
study is concerned. This is the more important 
phase of the question. The supervision of study as 
a teaching problem depends on the same principles 



HOME AND SUPERVISED STUDY 99 

as those which govern the question of methods ; that 
is, the aims, methods, and the materials of education. 

Principles of teaching. — Let us rapidly review 
some of those points in order to relate them to this 
particular topic. One of the most important consid- 
erations is that the pupil learns by self-activity. We 
have long since abandoned the theory that children 
are educated by having information poured in upon 
them. It is not a quantitative process. The most 
perplexing problem in pedagogy is how to educate 
a person who will not supply the initiative and the 
effort from within himself upon which all develop- 
ment depends. 

Everything that goes on outside of the individual 
will not educate him. He could be in the finest 
educational institution in the world, he could be sur- 
rounded by the most interesting materials, he could 
be the subject of the best instruction, and yet until 
his own mind reaches out with an interest and a 
desire to lay hold of the facts and the experiences 
that are about him, the educative process is ineffec- 
tive as far as he is concerned. 

The second very important principle is that the 
learning is conditioned by the previous experience 
and training of the pupil. This is the principle of 
apperception, which was treated in a former chap- 
ter. The third necessary factor is the arousing of 
suitable interest and motive. The fourth principle 



ioo ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

is the necessity for the development of the reason- 
ing powers or judgment; and the fifth, the training 
of the will and of the emotions. 

Help in study must be adapted to need of 
moment. — The problem of accomplishing these aims 
is greater and more difficult when we are dealing 
with the question of supervising the child's study, 
or his preparation, than it is in the recitation, because 
in the recitation we can plan in advance the presen- 
tation of certain materials and we can work accord- 
ing to this predetermined scheme, but in attempting 
to bring about all these results when a given child is 
working on a given problem or project, you have 
the disadvantage that you can not plan in advance; 
you must meet the exigencies of his need at the 
moment, with the added difficulty that it is often 
impossible to see just what that need is. 

Illustration of failure to supervise study. — 
An interesting example of the need for supervision 
of study was the confession of a business man that 
during his school career he solved problems in 
arithmetic by first getting the answer and working 
backward from it. It seems incredible that this 
should not have been discovered and corrected by 
his teachers, and it is difficult to understand how 
he could have carried on his work successfully. But 
it points to the importance of knowing how the mind 
of the pupil works and of supplying rational 
methods. 



HOME AND SUPERVISED STUDY 101 

Illustrations of this sort of thing will occur to 
every teacher; you have undoubtedly met hundreds 
of instances in which children have obtained results 
by some peculiar method of their own. This is par- 
ticularly true of mathematics, because mathematics 
seems to lend itself more to formal schemes of get- 
ting results, but it is true as well of other lines, as 
every teacher knows. 

Careful assignments will aid. — We should not 
fail to recognize the importance of the proper 
assignment of work. The manner in which the 
child attacks his lesson will depend in very large 
degree on the manner of the assignment. Each les- 
son should constitute a distinct problem to be solved, 
or something definite to be done. It should not be 
merely the assignment of a certain number of pages, 
or a quantity of subject-matter. 

The making of assignments in a scientific man- 
ner is a very complex and difficult matter when 
the wide variety of subjects which the average 
teacher must teach is considered. The course of 
study covers the entire range of human knowledge 
and human activity, and a teacher in the course of 
her day is supposed to assign work in all these 
various departments according to the correct plan 
for that particular type of work, whether it be 
music, physical culture, mathematics, science, his- 
tory, language or scientific temperance. While it is 



102 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

not an easy matter, yet it has very much to do 
with the way the child approaches his task, and the 
success he has in solving it. It is sufficient to say 
that assignments of work should be made in terms 
of the fundamental principles of teaching, and if 
this be not done it will detract from the effective- 
ness of the instruction in direct proportion. 

Correct habits of work should result. — The final 
outcome of the supervision of study should be the 
development of right habits of work on the part of 
the child. These habits are probably the most 
important product of school training, because a 
child may forget much of that which he studied or 
learned while in school, but his habits of work go 
with him through life, and will always characterize 
his activity. If, in his school work he has not learned 
to be clear in his thinking, to be systematic, to con- 
centrate his mind, to have respect for accuracy, and 
to work in conformity with the laws of habit forma- 
tion, then he has been very poorly equipped for later 
work. But if, on the other hand, his work has been 
so directed and trained that he has developed these 
qualities, then, indeed, is he armed for future events, 
whatever they may be. So that the ultimate results 
of this work should be not merely the acquisition 
of the content of the course of study, but it should 
be a set of habits which will stand the pupil in good 
stead in his future work. And these habits are 



HOME AND SUPERVISED STUDY 103 

formed quite as much by his self-activity while he 
is studying as by his directed activity in the 
recitation. 

Scientific methods will aid. — -What has the 
modern scientific movement to contribute to the 
question of supervised study? In so far as it is 
necessary or desirable for a teacher to find out as 

accurately as possible the status of the child and the 
way he works, standardized tests may be of consid- 
erable assistance. In so far as these standardized 
tests furnish a more accurate method of diagnosis 
than we have heretofore had i just so far they are of 
great assistance to the teacher in directing the child's 
study. It has been customary to rely on the insight 
and the intuition of the teacher to discover any 
peculiarities on the part of children in their ways 
of working. In fact, the whole recitation method is 
based on the assumption that through it the need of 
the individual pupil will be met. But unfortunately, 
the restrictions imposed by the numbers of children 
and the hours and the amount to be covered, are 
such that frequently it is impossible for the teacher 
to give the time to an individual case which it 
requires. If a diagnostic test will help to show the 
child's mental condition, will show his way of 
attacking a problem and solving it, then as a rule 
the remedy is exceedingly simple. 



104 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

Monroe* summarizes the service of standard- 
ized tests to advantage in the following language : 
"Not only are they enabling the teacher to check up 
his conception of what can justly be expected of chil- 
dren, but they are indelibly impressing upon his 
mind the absolute need for recognizing the individ- 
ual differences among his pupils in respect to each 
problem of learning, and for studying the reading 
needs of his pupils in order to plan instruction most 
wisely." 

Diagnosis prerequisite to instruction. — In gen- 
eral, it may be said that the intelligent and judicious 
use of standardized tests will lead to a more accu- 
rate diagnosis and a better adaptation of the means 
of instruction to the securing of predetermined 
results. 

I am sure that all teachers welcome any such 
means, whether they are exactly scientific or not. 
Certain it is that they are very significant and 
illuminating, and that they are an aid in the solving 
of this particular problem. 

The difference between a standardized test and 
others is that a standardized test is evaluated. The 
tests or examinations ordinarily given are not made 
up on a definite basis. They are used as measuring 
units although they vary with the teacher, the class, 
and the subject. But in a standard test, the ques- 



*Monroe, Measuring the Results of Teaching. 



HOME AND SUPERVISED STUDY 105 

tions are of known worth. The rate and quality of 
response from pupils of various grades are known. 

We may take it for granted that in order to do 
the best work, the teacher needs to have as much 
information as possible about the child, his condi- 
tion, his status in a particular subject, his methods 
of work, and study, and how to help him. For this 
reason, diagnostic tests assist in definitizing the 
teachers' problems and in planning more effective 
instruction. 

OUTLINE OF THE CHAPTER 

A. Recitation work has been planned more care- 

fully than supervision of study. 
1. Methods of study are important because 
they are concerned with the learning 
process. 

B. Home study often opposed. 

1. Time of child needed for other duties. 

2. Possible danger to health. 

3. Disadvantages more apparent than real. 

C. Supervised study needed because of class-room 

method. 

1. Question is administrative. 

a. Batavia plan. 

b. Oakland City plan. 

c. Newark plan. 

2. Question is also pedagogical. 

a. Depends upon aims and methods of 
instruction. 

i. Self-activity. 



106 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

ii. Apperception, 
iii. Interest, 
iv. Reasoning power. 

v. Emotion. 

b. Must be adapted to need of moment. 

c. Illustration of need. 

d. Importance of proper assignments. 

i. Must be in accord with 
principles of teaching. 
3. Result of supervision should be correct 
habits of work. 
D. Contribution of modern scientific education. 

1. Assists by aiding correct diagnosis. 

2. Welcomed by teachers. 

3. Standard test evaluated. 

4. Makes teachers' problems more definite. 

REFERENCES 

Bagley — Craftsmanship in Teaching, Chap. VIII. 
Chancellor — Teaching and Management, pp. 

Earhart — Teaching Children to Study. 

Hall-Quest — Supervised Study. 

Klapper — Principles of Educational Practice. 

McMurry — How to Study and Teaching How 

to Study. 

TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION 

Should elementary pupils be required to study at home? 
If so, how much? Should this work be directed by the 
teacher or should the pupil be left to his own devices? To 
what extent can the study in school be supervised? Suggest 
a plan for the efficient supervision of the pupils' study. Is 
there any evidence that the supervision of study improves the 
results obtained by the pupils? 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE RELATION OF THE SCHOOL TO THE COMMUNITY 

The school is society's principal educational 
institution.— The subject of the relation of the 
school to the community is a fundamental topic, 
because of the fact that the school is a very impor- 
tant social institution, and all of the work that it 
does has a distinct social reference. We sometimes 
think of the school as society's only educational 
organization. As a matter of fact, it is not the only 
one, although it is probably the most important 
single agency. The other agencies also are impor- 
tant, such as the home, the church, the courts, the 
newspapers, and the other institutions of our demo- 
cratic country, and it is the duty of the school to 
cooperate with and to supplement these agencies. 

The school cooperates with other agencies. — 
Such cooperation is well illustrated by the way in 
which the school lunch problem is being cared for 
in many cities. Usually the local woman's club, 
a parent-teacher association or other welfare or- 
ganization initiates the work of supplying a school 

107 



108 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

lunch for the pupils who need it on account of 
being under-nourished. The organization usually 
supplies financial and moral support, and the school 
furnishes the supervision and management. In 
time, the work may be taken over entirely by the 
school, although in some states it would be neces- 
sary to obtain legislation to permit this action. 
Educators are coming to realize that anything nec- 
essary to the physical or mental well-being of chil- 
dren may come within the province of the school. 
Since education has been turned over quite largely 
to schools there has been brought about a tendency 
to place in the hands of the schools these various 
questions of community interest. 

The school transmits the race inheritance. — 
In delegating the work of education to an organ- 
ized institution, aside from the problem of prepar- 
ing the youth for effective participation in adult 
life, there are also undoubtedly two other distinct 
purposes. One is that of transmitting to the oncom- 
ing generation the former accomplishments and 
achievements of civilized mankind. In other words, 
transmitting the race inheritance of science, litera- 
ture and history. Otherwise, each generation would 
have to rediscover for itself the facts necessary to 
its progress. We must not ignore the traditional 
purpose of education in thinking about the social 
aspects of it. 



RELATION OF SCHOOL 109 

The school is a constructive social force. — 

The second general purpose is that education shall 
be a preventive or constructive factor; that is, that 
society may avoid in the future some of the mis- 
takes made in the past. Many of our social insti- 
tutions are remedial in character. Education is 
quite largely formative. It is interesting to note 
that the purpose of education is always determined 
by the social ideals of each age and race. Even 
within the brief compass of our own history, the 
change that has taken place in the purpose of public 
education is so marked as to be almost incomprehen- 
sible. The history of education in the Colonial 
days shows that the purpose was quite distinctly 
that of training children to avoid evil and sin. The 
broad purpose of preparation for living, for citizen- 
ship, for social participation was not thought of; it 
did not enter into the educational purpose, except 
in so far as the inculcation of moral principles 
would bring about these results. 

Purpose of education determined by sociological 
conditions. — 'The change from that early ideal to 
the modern conception has paralleled a certain 
change in society, in the kind of life people live. 
In those days, the life outside the school was such 
that it afforded certain kinds of training. It was 
possible to get experience in the home and in the 
community, in productive industries, and in other 



no ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

occupations. With the birth of the factory system 
in America, a tendency started in American life 
which is still working itself out. That was the prin- 
ciple of specialization of effort and division of labor. 

Complexity of modern life. — Secretary Lane 
recently made the statement that in these days we 
live only by unanimous consent. This points to the 
interrelation of every class of work in society, and 
to the fact that the cutting off or the interference 
with any one of the many lines of work pursued by 
any special group will affect all the rest. That is 
axiomatic ; we know by experience that it is the case, 
whether it be a question of a coal shortage, a sugar 
shortage, a milk shortage, or an interruption of 
transportation. We are all affected by any of these 
activities either breaking down or being temporarily 
stopped. 

Specialization of efforts. — This tendency to 
specialization of effort in society tends to the devel- 
opment of a series of water-tight compartments as 
it were, so that there is comparatively little inter- 
change of information between the various groups, 
and comparatively little understanding on the part 
of one group of what others are contributing to the 
common life. Hence, along with the gain which 
comes about from this arrangement there is a cer- 
tain loss; there is a loss of coordination, of mutual 
sympathy and respect. I do not mean that in a bad 



RELATION OF SCHOOL in 

sense, but I mean that the tendency is for each group 
to magnify the necessity and importance of its own 
particular specialty somewhat at the expense of the 
work of every one else. 

Publicity helps coordination.— <This fact points 
to the necessity in civilization to-day of some means 
of legitimate publicity for every kind of work. If 
we, for instance, could know exactly in regard to 
the steel industry, we would have very much greater 
appreciation of the difficulties and of the value of 
that particular kind of work. This is equally true 
in regard to public organizations. If we could know 
exactly the problems facing the Board of Health, 
just what funds they have at their disposal, how 
these funds are apportioned, the problems presented 
in community health and sanitation which call for 
solution, we would certainly appreciate very much 
more than we do the work of that body. The same 
is true of various branches of municipal government ; 
it is true of every department of our life. We 
know too little about what other people are doing 
and therefore we do not have so complete an under- 
standing, and hence so great an appreciation, as we 
should have of the importance of their services. 

This is equally true of education. Education 
has become a more or less technical pursuit, not well 
understood by the average citizen. What is needed 
is a suitable means of acquainting the patrons with 



ii2 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

the work of the schools, their special problems, and 
their progressive program. 

Social aspect shown by the curriculum. — 
Reference was made in a previous chapter to the 
social aspect of education as shown by the depend- 
ence of the curriculum on public need and public 
demand. This is one of the foremost indications of 
the close relationship between the school and the 
community, and it points to the importance of the 
curriculum being based quite definitely on the social 
conditions of which the school is a part. 

Attitude toward war work. — An excellent illus- 
tration of this subject is the extent to which the 
schools performed war work during the past two 
years. I am sure we all remember very vividly the 
extent to which our effort was turned into the chan- 
nels of special activity growing out of the needs 
created by war conditions. Indeed, to such an 
extent was that true that a great many teachers felt 
that the entire educational work was submerged in 
a war program. 

There were two general attitudes toward these 
special war activities. Some communities attempted 
to exclude all such things from the schools on the 
ground that they interfered with the regular work 
of the schools; that the children should have their 
time protected ; that their education for future need 
was sufficiently important that they shouldn't take 



RELATION OF SCHOOL 113 

their time to make war posters or sell thrift stamps 
or anything" else of like nature. 

As a member of one of the state committees I 
visited one or two communities to learn why partic- 
ular lines of war work were not being taken up. I 
met with certain objections to the effect that the 
school couldn't be distracted, and the children 
couldn't have their school work interfered with by 
these never-ending demands for this kind of effort. 

The argument which we advanced to meet the 
situation was simply this : What are these lines of 
study that you call the regular work of the child ; in 
other wordSj what is the child's business? If it is 
a matter of preparing him to be a good citizen, what 
is the thing which will best do that? Is it simply 
a study of dead material that was put into the course 
of study years ago when it was vital, but which has 
now ceased to be so? Would not the depriving of 
the children of the opportunity to participate in the 
typical activities going on in the world about them 
more than overbalance any possible good to be 
obtained by attempting to confine the child to 
routine duties? 

In our schools the teachers took up every line 
of war work that offered itself. It was carried on 
enthusiastically, and successfully. The sale of 
thrift stamps was so well organized that they are 
still being sold. The report for a recent week shows 



ii 4 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

that the sales in the schools amounted to about nine 
hundred dollars. The consensus of opinion among 
the teachers and principals is that the inspiration 
which came to our children through feeling that 
they were a necessary part of this nation and that 
there was a work for them to do was sufficient to 
overbalance the loss which came from breaking up 
the routine. Because, after all, education in the 
broad sense is a spiritual business, and whatever 
acts on the motives and the ideals of the children is 
of fundamental educational importance. 

In America we have talked a great deal about 
the democracy of opportunity. We need also to talk 
about the democracy of experience. There is a prin- 
ciple of psychology that emotion follows action. The 
patriotism and the loyalty shown by the men who 
came home from service abroad is an excellent 
example of this type of psychology. Having given 
service and sacrifice for their country, these men 
came back more intensely loyal to its institutions 
than they had ever been before. Through the work 
of the American Legion they are missionaries of 
Americanism and they are trying to set up stand- 
ards of one hundred per cent, patriotism in every 
community. In part this was created by the service 
which they gave. 

In teaching patriotism, it isn't always possible 
to inculcate the sentiment in advance of the action. 



RELATION OF SCHOOL! 115 

If a child can be brought to do something for his 
country, it is very probable that he will love it. 

Sociological aspects of modern schools. — Let us 

consider a few of the characteristics of modern 
schools which show a distinct social program. Take 
first the question of school architecture. The plan- 
ning of schools to-day has become a distinct branch 
of architecture. A great deal of work has been 
done in standardizing schoolhouse construction. The 
modern school building that is so planned has 
a great many conveniences and provisions for social 
activities. Examples of such provision are the 
assembly room, the auditorium, the gymnasium, the 
shops, and the domestic arts department. Also there 
is often a room for a branch of the public library 
and for free dental clinics. In fact, there are few 
community needs that are not provided for in the 
modern school plant. 

The whole question of schoolhouse construction 
has been made over because of the fact that the 
school plant in these days has a wider use than it 
had a generation or two ago. Many of the 
buildings which have been erected for some years 
are quite unsuited to the modern demand. The 
publication by the Indianapolis Board of School 
Commissioners of a pamphlet entitled Standardized 
Requirements for Elementary Schools has received 
considerable attention in various parts of the coun- 



n6 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

try and has helped to set up new standards along 
this line. Other localities have made a contribution 
to the progress of schoolhouse planning by develop- 
ing a special type of building with unusual features 
such as the "expanded corridor" for use as a play 
space, as developed in Cleveland, the "one-story" 
schools, and the overhead lighting system exempli- 
fied in one of the Kansas City buildings. 

The work of the National Education Associa- 
tion Committee on standards has also helped to bring 
the problem to a definite, scientific basis. As a 
result modern buildings will be fully adequate to 
the work for which they are intended. 

Community uses. — The broader use of the school 
plant is shown by such things as summer schools, 
evening schools, and various types of vocational 
classes; and in addition to these there are concerts, 
lectures, parent-teacher club meetings and other 
community center activities. All these are of com- 
paratively recent growth and are an evidence of the 
extension of public school work. Indeed, it is now 
common for the public schools to be used for almost 
any type of community or neighborhood meeting 
which is not exclusive in any sense; that is, any 
meeting which is open to the public upon equal 
terms. The parent-teacher associations afford 
one of the best points of contact between the school 
and the public. They tend to establish a certain 



RELATION OF SCHOOL 117 

amount of acquaintance and cooperation. The 
parent-teacher associations are almost universal. 
They have fully shown their value, and where prop- 
erly organized and conducted they are a power for 
good in aiding progressive school policy. 

Student organizations. — There are many student 
activities and organizations which illustrate this ten- 
dency, such as junior chambers of commerce, the 
printing of school papers, the use of older pupils as 
junior attendance officers, school orchestras, and 
athletic teams. Many of these activities are merely 
reproductions of similar organizations in the com- 
munity at large, and they are an attempt to educate 
the pupil by participation. The work of school sav- 
ings is distinctly a community matter. Primarily, 
of course, such a question is for the home, and in 
many instances it is handled through the home, but 
the school seems to be able to emphasize the value 
of this habit and to furnish an easy method of carry- 
ing out a savings plan. 

The work of the various school and home gar- 
den associations is another evidence of cooperation 
between the school and the community. This work 
has been carried on, especially during war times, 
with the cooperation of one of the departments of 
the government, with a distinct purpose of helping 
to win the war. The Junior Red Cross is another 
illustration of a war-time organization which is 



n8 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

proving equally serviceable in time of peace. The 
extension of this most valuable social agency into 
the school life of the nation is a great gain for 
education. 

Special days. — -Another evidence of community 
influence is the observance of special days and occa- 
sions. How many of these there are! How often 
teachers groan in spirit when they have another one 
to celebrate — fire prevention day, thrift day, arbor 
day, Mayflower day; the list seems endless; but 
again the question is, shall we exclude these matters 
on the ground that they interfere with the regular 
work, or shall we accept them as an opportunity 
to teach citizenship and patriotism in the most vital 
and effective way by letting the life of the nation 
flow through the school ; by so doing we educate by 
participation and make the school a social institu- 
tion in the broadest and best sense. 

Home projects.- — A few years ago, several plans 
were put into effect giving school credit for home 
work. It had some vogue in many parts of the 
land, and was a sincere attempt to correlate the 
school with home and community life. Recently 
there has been an attempt to carry on instruction by 
home projects. This has been confined largely to 
certain subjects, such as manual training and domes- 
tic science, which lend themselves especially to 
home work. In connection with this work there is 



RELATION OF SCHOOL 119 

often an exhibit of both home and school work. 
Every attempt of this kind is an effort to acquaint 
the general public with what the school is doing, and 
to encourage the pupils by allowing them to have 
their effort appraised and appreciated. 

Commercial materials. — Some schools make use 
of materials issued by various industrial and com- 
mercial concerns chiefly for the purpose of advertis- 
ing their business, such as maps, pictures and 
manufactured products. The purpose of this mate- 
rial is to show industrial processes, the progress of 
raw material to its finished state. Recently motion 
picture films have been produced for this purpose. 
This material is highly informational and enables 
the child to learn by vicarious experience. It has 
great value in the schoolroom if properly used. 

Work permits. — The compulsory attendance law 
and the laws pertaining to the issuance of work 
permits and the laws governing the operations of a 
juvenile court are all three an illustration of the 
interrelation of the school with the community. 
Time was, when compulsory attendance was very 
much resented, when it was felt to be an invasion of 
the family rights. In my early school experience I 
can recall very well the attitude taken by many 
parents to the effect that it was entirely their affair 
whether or not they sent the child to school. But 
to-day society as a whole takes an interest in that 



120 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

question, and takes the position that it is of concern 
to the state whether or not the child attends school, 
and whether mere individual preference shall take 
precedence over the needs of the community. 

The conditions under which children may work 
are limited but perhaps not so strictly as they should 
be. There are very definite limitations as to kinds 
of occupations children may engage in, the ages at 
which they may begin to work, and the conditions 
under which they may work, and the number of 
hours. Beginning with this current year we have 
been called on to enforce federal provisions in regard 
to work permits. Heretofore, these permits have 
been issued solely under the provisions of the state 
law, but now there are federal provisions which 
grow out of the fact that there is a tax upon the 
product of a factory which has been produced by 
children working illegally. This makes the manu- 
facturer very anxious to comply with the terms of 
the federal law and it necessitates a careful supervi- 
sion by school authorities of the granting of such 
permits. 

It is unnecessary to carry this catalogue further. 
The number of items here might be doubled. Indeed, 
there are so many of them that it is difficult to 
know what to omit, but in all these ways, we see the 
interaction of the school and the community. We 
see that the school is so much a part of the life about 



RELATION OF SCHOOL 121 

it that inevitably it will reflect and participate in 
whatever is happening in the community itself. It 
seems to me that it is the part of wisdom to recog- 
nize this fact and to utilize it — to capitalize it as an 
educational principle, and to adopt the idea of educa- 
tion through participation, and of the democracy of 
experience. 

A brief quotation from Emerson's Essay on Cul- 
ture in Education summarizes, it seems to me, in a 
fitting way the attitude we should take toward this 
subject. He says : 

"Let us make our education brave and preven- 
tive. Politics is an after-work, a poor patching. 
We are always a little late. The evil is done, the 
law is passed, and we begin the up-hill agitation for 
repeal of that of which we ought to have prevented 
the enacting. We shall one day learn to supersede 
politics by education. What we call our root-and- 
branch reforms of slavery, war, gambling, intem- 
perance, is only medicating the symptoms. We must 
begin higher up, namely, in Education. " 

OUTLINE OF THE CHAPTER 

A. The school is society's principal educational 
institution. 

1. It cooperates with other agencies. 

2. It transmits the race inheritance. 

3. It is a constructive social force. 



122 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

B. Purpose of education determined by sociologi- 

» cal conditions. 

1. Complexity of modern life. 

2. Specialization of effort. 

3. Publicity helps coordination. 

4. Social aspect shown by the curriculum. 

5. Attitude toward war work. 

C. Sociological aspects of modern schools. 

1. Architecture. 

2. Community uses. 

3. Student organizations. 

4. Special days. 

5. Home projects. 

6. Commercial materials. 

7. Work permits. 

D. Education should be "brave and preventive." 

REFERENCES 

Bennett — School Efficiency. 

Cronson — Pupil Self -Government. 

Forbush — The Boy Problem. 

Hall — A dole seen ce. 

Houghton — Stories and Exercises for Opening 

School. 

TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION 

Illustrate the relationship between the school and the com- 
munity by showing the kind of education provided in ancient 
Greece or Rome, or modern China. Does modern society 
require more from its schools than in former ages? What 
are "fads"? To what extent should the schools participate 
in such things as a Red Cross campaign for membership? A 
Community Chest drive? Clean-up week? Should school 
authorities have the right to determine whether or not a child 
can go to work? 



CHAPTER IX 



SUPERVISION 



Social unrest affects education. — The disturbed 
social condition following the World War has 
affected education as much as it has other fields, 
and the universal unrest which seems to be pervad- 
ing society is influencing education by causing a 
thorough questioning and scrutiny of all educational 
activities. It would be folly to deny that there is a 
certain unrest in the field of education. This af- 
fected us during the war. Teachers were uncertain 
whether they were rendering the largest service to 
the country by remaining at their posts. A good 
many teachers sought other fields of activity in the 
hope that they might make a larger contribution. 
To a certain extent this tendency still persists. 
Teachers during the current year have sought other 
fields of effort and activity. Part of the unrest in 
the educational world has been due to the over-con- 
scientiousness of teachers and to their anxiety to do 
their fullest duty. 

Supervision a cause of dissatisfaction All the 

123 



124 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

phases of educational thought have been subjected 
to the scrutiny alluded to above : the course of 
study, plans of organization, management, adminis- 
tration, and also the plans of supervision. The lat- 
ter question has caused its full share of dissatisfac- 
tion on the part of teachers, and it is important to 
learn the reasons for this fact, and, if possible, the 
remedies. 

The purpose of supervision. — The most impor- 
tant consideration in connection with this question is 
to determine the purpose of supervision. No doubt 
the purpose of supervision changes with education 
itself and needs to be defined anew with each epoch 
which shows a distinctive character. No doubt, 
also, supervision serves more than one function. But 
on account of the way in which education is organ- 
ized and conducted to-day one of the chief aims of 
supervision is "coordination." We know that the 
field of education is characterized by specialization 
of effort. We have division of labor in teaching 
just as we have in the industries. The factory sys- 
tem as it has been developed in America within the 
past hundred years has applied not merely to the 
field of industry, but to professional effort as well. 
The fact has heretofore been pointed out that the 
other professional fields, such as law and medicine, 
are conducted to-day along the lines of highly spec- 
ialized and subdivided effort. Obviouslv, if each 



SUPERVISION 125 

teacher did all of the work having to do with the 
education of a given child, or a given group of chil- 
dren, comparatively little supervision would be 
necessary. 

Need of supervision accompanies increasing 
complexity of life. — This is proved by the fact that 
in an earlier day when education was conducted 
without the present division of labor, there was no 
supervision. This condition exists to-day in certain 
parts of our country and in certain departments of 
education. As soon as you begin to divide and sub- 
divide, you gain in efficiency what you lose in 
unity. That seems a simple principle. It is practi- 
cally axiomatic, and yet, all through our social and 
civic life to-day we are profiting by the benefits of 
specialized effort and are complaining about or suf- 
fering from the lack of harmony produced thereby. 
Every form of organization has its defects as well 
as its good points, and the defect of specialized effort 
is, that it is a single track affair, that it must be 
conducted without as much reference to other lines 
of activity as might be desirable. 

Teachers are becoming specialists. — Many teach- 
ers apply for positions in city schools who give as 
their reason for desiring to work in a large system 
the fact that they will be able to devote themselves 
to some particular branch or grade. They are dis- 
satisfied with working in a small system where they 



126 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

have to teach so many different kinds of work. That 
is felt to be an impossible situation. So, teachers 
are more and more tending to specialties. The divi- 
sion and subdivision of their work has gone on until 
it is easy to appreciate the difference between condi- 
tions as they now are and as they were even five 
years ago. This tendency has not yet fully worked 
itself out in American education. There will be still 
more specialization. As long as this is the case it is 
absolutely essential that provision be made to coor- 
dinate the various lines of work, to harmonize them 
in the interest of the child, and his education. It is 
an evidence of human limitation that we do not look 
this fact squarely in the face and accept it as a part 
of the organized life we are living, but that we 
should like to have all of the advantages accruing to 
a specialized form of effort without any of the 
disadvantages. 

Relative values not determined. — The assump- 
tion that one type of work in a school system is more 
important than another or that it is more valuable, 
or that it should be more highly recognized, is com- 
paratively fantastic. Perhaps there is a difference 
in the value of service, but no one has yet found 
any scale or balance fine enough to measure it. 
About the only principle of differentiation between 
the kinds of work which can be made with any 
approach to justice^ is the amount and kind of 



SUPERVISION 127 

preparation necessary to prepare one for that par- 
ticular work. If it takes longer to get ready for 
one thing than for another, it is perfectly right to 
value the service accordingly. This is true in other 
fields and it is fair to have the principle apply in 
the field of education. There seerns to be an assump- 
tion in certain quarters that people who are doing 
supervisory work consider that that work is in some 
way superior to the work of teaching. This is a 
great mistake. It is valuable work — it is necessary 
work, and indeed indispensable, but to say that it is 
more important than the work of teaching would 
be a very doubtful assumption. 

Administrative work is a distinct field The 

same is true of administrative work. Administra- 
tive work is necessary. Problems of finance and 
organization must be cared for, but certainly if the 
work of education stopped there the benefit to the 
rising generation would be very slight indeed. 
Hence, to say that the work of administration is 
more important than any other work in a school 
system is again a very doubtful assumption. The 
true point of view from which to look at this ques- 
tion is not to decide which one of these lines is 
superior to the others; but, rather to recognize the 
fact that all of these departments and divisions are 
essential to the best results. The work of adminis- 
tration and of supervision is different from teach- 



128 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

ing. It is not necessarily more important work nor 
more valuable. It is not necessary for us to make 
our categories exclusive, and to set up any one type 
of activity as dominating all of the rest. 

To argue the value of one kind of work and to 
underrate the other is like arguing the relative 
importance of eating and breathing. One has to do 
both. The health of the body requires the coordina- 
tion of its vital functions. In like manner the 
schools are a highly complex organization. The 
best results can not be obtained without the har- 
monious interaction of teaching, and supervision, 
and administration. 

Objections to supervision. — Let us consider 
briefly some of the objections often made to super- 
vision. Probably the most frequent objection is that 
there is too much of it. Several years ago a very 
good primary teacher went to a Pacific Coast city. 
After she had been there about four months, she 
came back East for a visit. When asked how she 
liked her work, she said she liked it very well, 
except that she felt that the schools were over- 
supervised. She said that she had not spent an 
entire day alone with her school in the four months 
she had been there, and added, "If they would just 
let me alone for a little while, I would like to show 
them what kind of primary work I could do." Too 
much supervision is as objectionable as too much of 
any commodity. 



SUPERVISION 129 

Supervision should be constructive. — The second 
general complaint about supervision is that it is not 
of the right kind ; that it is restrictive and tends to 
be inquisitorial rather than constructive; that it is 
critical in a negative sense ; and that it does not allow 
sufficient opportunity for the freedom and initiative 
of the teacher. No doubt there is validity in both 
these criticisms. In a greater or less degree, there 
may be too much supervision in certain school sys- 
tems, and that supervision may not always be of the 
right type. These criticisms point in a general way 
to the characteristics of proper supervision ; that is, 
it should be sympathetic, so that the teacher's point 
of view will be carefully understood and appreciated 
by the person doing the supervising. 

Hence, supervision should be constructive rather 
than merely critical. A month or two ago I was 
in an adjoining city where one of the assistant super- 
intendents had come from another system within 
the past year and a half, and had undertaken super- 
visory work in the elementary schools. I asked one 
of the officials connected with that system how this 
particular supervisor was getting along. I knew 
that at the time there had been some little feeling 
on the part of the local people that this supervisor 
was not welcome. But this assistant superintendent 
told me that every one in that system was very much 
delighted, and that they were very much pleased 



130 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

with the work of this particular supervisor. I 
asked why that was. "Well," he said, "this person 
seems to have impressed teachers with the feeling 
that she is there to help. She places even the most 
inexperienced teacher at ease, and makes every one 
glad that she is in the work, and there is never any 
intimation that she is there for anything but a help- 
ful purpose." I suppose that supervision is always 
characterized to some extent by this constructive 
motive, but of course not all supervisors are able 
to make it thoroughly understood. Supervisors 
differ just as teachers differ. Therefore they are 
not always so effective as they should be. Cer- 
tainly in supervision emphasis should be placed 
upon the positive rather than the negative. 

Supervision should be liberal. — In the third 
place, supervision should be characterized by free- 
dom and liberality. There should be ample scope 
for the individuality and initiative of the teacher, 
and she should be encouraged to work out her own 
salvation and to utilize her own ideas and strength 
to the greatest possible advantage. 

Supervision should be scientific. — Supervisors 
should have special training for their work; so that 
the problems of supervision will be well defined and 
attacked by an approved method. Supervisors who 
are truly prepared will not only judge as to the 
means and methods and results, but will also be 



SUPERVISION 131 

ready to state the principle behind the judgment; 
and how this principle may be applied to the situa- 
tion at hand. The modern scientific movement is 
making" a contribution to the work of supervision in 
that it is helping to a more careful analysis of the 
problems involved. Its aid should be sought by all 
who expect to work in this field. But after science 
has done all that it can this problem will still retain 
a great deal of the element of human nature because 
it means that people are going to divide a certain 
task among themselves, and in order to be successful 
with it they must cooperate in producing the com- 
mon result. To get this cooperation is a human 
problem. To work together with other people to do 
something is in many respects more difficult than 
to do it by yourself ; and as long as that is true the 
principal difficulty with this whole question is with 
the human elements in it rather than with the 
scientific elements. No matter how well trained a 
supervisor may be, if he lack the necessary human 
attitude and the necessary spiritual equipment, he 
will not be successful as a supervisor. These facts 
may be somewhat commonplace but they are pre- 
requisite to the satisfactory conduct of the work of 
supervision. 

Attitude of teachers toward supervision. — Con- 
sider for a moment the other side of the question. 
What should be the attitude toward supervision of 



132 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

those who are being supervised ? It is not too much 
to ask that the same general qualities of sympathy, 
breadth of view, liberality, and of scientific attain- 
ment should be shown by the teacher as well as by 
the supervisor. In other words, it is just as impor- 
tant that the person who is doing the teaching know 
what she is about, have a professional attitude 
toward the work in hand and toward those who are 
associated with her in that work, as that the super- 
visor should also possess those qualities. 

Teachers should acknowledge their difficulties. 
— Another obligation resting upon the teacher is to 
make more use of the supervisors by calling upon 
them freely for any help which may be needed. 
Since provision is made to relate the work which 
one teacher is doing to that of another, this service 
should be utilized in the most matter-of-fact way. 
The teacher should not consider it a favor on the 
part of the supervisor but a part of the day's busi- 
ness. Furthermore, teachers should be a little more 
free to confide their difficulties, and perhaps even 
their own faults, than they are. Perhaps this is a 
council of perfection, and yet if there be a profes- 
sional attitude on both sides, nothing makes a 
stronger teacher than to take the frankest possible 
attitude toward the defects and handicaps that are 
intrinsic in the situation. The difficulty here is the 
development of that degree of professional respect 



SUPERVISION i 33 

and confidence which will make teachers feel free 
to ask for help. Teachers often feel that a short- 
coming on the part of a child is a reflection on 
themselves. Yet many of the defects exhibited are 
no more the fault of a particular teacher than is 
the color of the child's hair, or the number of 
pounds he weighs. Teachers should have the right 
to feel that supervisors realize these limitations and 
do not expect the impossible. 

Teachers should have a scientific attitude. — 
What is needed is a more impersonal and scientific 
attitude toward the common work in which both 
teacher and supervisor are engaged. In general, 
the attitude of the teacher toward a supervisor or 
administrative officer should be similar to that 
which one has toward professional associates whom 
one respects. It should be the same kind of atti- 
tude as that which we have toward a college pro- 
fessor or instructor, whose help and instruction we 
have prized. 

Differentiation should be recognized Since we 

are confronted with the fact that under present con- 
ditions school work will be subdivided and different 
kinds of work will be done by different people, we 
may well make the best of such condition. Teachers 
can not perform the essential administrative work 
of a school system any more than the superintendent 
of schools can do all of the teaching. It is not that 



134 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

one kind of work is more important than the other. 
It is not that one is superior to the other, but it is 
simply that they are different in kind. They require 
different training and experience. 

Any one who has tried to perform both kinds 
of work at once has found it difficult to concen- 
trate on pedagogical problems and at the same time 
give the right kind of consideration to executive 
problems. 

Many principals and supervisors have com- 
mented on the trivial character of many of the inci- 
dents to which they are obliged to give their atten- 
tion. At one time I kept a professional journal in 
which I noted all of the items of professional busi- 
ness — the interviews, the conferences^ and the kind 
of cases that came before me during two years. It 
was surprising to find how many things there were 
which in themselves were apparently trivial. Execu- 
tive business seems to be just a succession of such 
incidents, and yet they all go in together to make 
up the success, or lack of it, of the entire 
organization. 

Need of cooperation. — The real solution of this 
question is in the realization of our relationship to 
the common work in which we are engaged. Every 
one of us is but a part of the whole. We are but 
one factor in the great work which forms our joint 
task. That work will not be complete without the 



SUPERVISION 135 

effort of every one of us, and without the best 
effort that we can give. It is not for us to dispute 
among ourselves about the relative importance of 
our contribution to the common project, but to 
maintain a common loyalty to a common work. In 
order to bring out the necessity of coordination of 
effort, I have sometimes used as an illustration the 
great orchestra which with its many instruments 
produces such marvelous effects. Who shall say 
that the music of any one instrument is more impor- 
tant than that of any other? If the French horn 
player should refuse to participate in the selection, 
unless every one present would admit that his instru- 
ment was the most important in the orchestra it 
would not be received as an evidence of his musician- 
ship. I do not know the relative importance of the 
instruments in an orchestra. I do not even know 
whether the leader of the orchestra is the most 
important person in it, but unless there be leader- 
ship — and unless there be expert effort properly 
coordinated — the great symphony is impossible. 

In twentieth-century society and civilization, we 
must gain a greater vision of the degree of coordina- 
tion required of us all, and we must be willing to 
make the necessary sacrifices and adaptations in our 
own lives and work to bring about that coordina- 
tion. Supervision of the right type will be a helpful 
factor to that end. 



136 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

There is a phrase in the preamble to the Consti- 
tution of the United States which sets forth the pur- 
pose of "providing for the general welfare." The 
world greatly needs social conduct dominated by 
that motive to-day, and the world of educational 
ideal and endeavor needs it too*. 

OUTLINE OF THE CHAPTER 

A. Social unrest affects education. 

I. Supervision a cause of dissatisfaction. 

B. The purpose of supervision. 

1. Need of coordination shown by increas- 

ing complexity of life. 

2. Teachers are becoming specialists. 

3. Relative values not determined. 

4. Administration a distinct field. 

C. Objections to supervision. 

1. Schools may be over-supervised. 
• 2. Supervision should be helpful rather than 
inquisitorial. 

3. Supervision should be liberal. 

4. Supervision should be scientific. 

D. Attitude of teachers toward supervision. 

1. Same qualities are desirable as for 

supervisor. 

2. Teachers should acknowledge their dif- 

ficulties. 

3. Teachers should have a scientific attitude. 

4. Differentiation should be recognized. 

E. Need of cooperation. 

1. Willingness to work for common cause. 



SUPERVISION 137 

REFERENCES 

Bagley — Craftsmanship in Teaching. 

Chancellor — Our Schools; Their Administration 
and Supervision. 

Cubberley — Public School Administration, 
Chaps. XI, XV. 

TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION 

What is the chief function of supervision? Is the com- 
plaint justified that the schools of to-day are over-supervised? 
What are some of the characteristics of good supervision? 
Give an example of good or poor supervision from your own 
experience. What kind of training should a supervisor have? 
To what extent is the teacher responsible for making super- 
vision necessary? What does supervision cost in comparison 
with instruction? 



CHAPTER X 

HEALTH SUPERVISION 

Accurate data. — The data supplied by the Selec- 
tive Service Draft is the most complete and the most 
valuable information of its kind which has ever been 
available in the United States. It is an impressive 
record of the physical unfitness of the young men 
of America. The conditions revealed by it had been 
suspected by physicians, social workers and educa- 
tors, but no one realized how deplorable the condi- 
tions were until facts like the following came to 
light. 

Extent of defects revealed — Thirty-two per cent, 
of the men examined in the draft were rejected on 
the first examination as unfit for military service. 
On re-examination after being in training camps for 
a while and being under the care of regular army 
physicians, an additional ten per cent, were rejected. 
Later on an additional five per cent, broke down 
under the rigors of the military training and showed 
that they could not stand severe physical effort. 
This makes a total of forty-seven per cent, of all 

138 



HEALTH SUPERVISION 139 

those between the ages of eighteen and thirty-five, 
who were physically unfit for the military service 
of their country. The chief defects were as follows : 
respiratory troubles, throat and lung troubles, heart 
defects, flat feet, ear, nose and teeth defects, and 
curvature of the spine. 

These facts were so startling that they made a 
profound impression upon the minds of all think- 
ing people, and to-day there is a general agreement 
that the work of physical education and of public 
health must be so improved that our country will 
no longer be in the condition of having such a large 
number of men unfit for the national defense. 

Same relative amount of deficiency among school 
children. — A fact interesting to educators is that 
examinations of school children show about the 
same percentages of deficiency, and about the same 
kinds as shown by the draft. Because of this simi- 
larity, an analysis of the figures of the Selective 
Service Draft furnishes a very good basis for deal- 
ing with the question of physical education in the 
public schools. The available figures also show that 
there is a very much larger percentage of deficien- 
cies in the children of rural and small-town schools 
than in those of the city systems. This also par- 
allels the experience of the draft officials who 
rejected a greater number of men from the rural 
than from urban communities. In attacking this 



i 4 o ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

problem there are two general lines to be followed ; 
through the public health service and through phys- 
ical education. The former should include adequate 
provision for the supervision of the health of all 
school children. 

Public health service not adequately financed. — 

In regard to the matter of public health service, it is 
a well-known fact among health engineers that the 
public health bears a direct relation to the amount 
of money spent on it. Doctor W. A. Evans, for- 
merly Health Commissioner of the city of Chicago, 
said that you could construct the health curve of 
any community by getting its health budget. In 
other words health can be purchased up to certain 
limits. 

Because of failure on the part of the public to 
realize the importance of the question, most of the 
Public Health Boards are unable to do their best 
work from lack of sufficient funds. Modern sani- 
tary science is prepared to accomplish wonders in 
the way of prevention and in the promotion of health 
and comfort, but the work costs more than the 
average community is willing to spend. This points 
to the need of greater public enlightenment on this 
subject, and in this work the schools can be of 
service. 

Education must change this condition. — Perhaps 
the complete solution of the problem will not be 



HEALTH SUPERVISION 141 

found until the public schools educate a generation 
of citizens and legislators who will have such a 
fundamental conviction on health matters that the 
public health will be provided for. But, if the solu- 
tion of the question must wait for that day, how 
long will it take the public schools to produce that 
kind of generation? Is the work now being done 
in our schools, in the teaching of physiology and 
hygiene, in physical training, and in the supervision 
of health so organized and conducted that it will 
result in higher standards for the next generation? 
Have we enough vision in our program of health 
supervision at the present time to create personal 
habits in the life of the child, and also to reach out 
and make the conditions in the community whole- 
some and hygienic? Several years ago I visited 
a school where they were said to have remarkable 
work in hygiene. It was very good work, and I 
appreciated it very much. As I left the building 
and went down the street to catch a car, I passed a 
good many homes where the front yards were full 
of tin-cans and rubbish, and the streets were run- 
ning rivulets of filth. The contrast between what 
was going on in school with the condition of the 
front dooryards of the people who lived near the 
building was very striking. Is it not fair to expect 
that the instruction which children receive in school 
will make them sensitive to unsanitary environment ? 



142 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

Relation of health to education. — It is self- 
evident that education depends to a very large extent 
upon health and physical well-being. Repeated 
absence from school on account of illness soon 
becomes a real handicap to securing an education; 
and a weak body prevents the fullest use of a 
trained mind. Hence to make education as effective 
as possible, all remediable defects should receive 
attention. 

Economic loss. — Figures are presented in The 
Hygiene of the School Child, by Terman, showing 
the economic loss due to preventable illness. The 
author estimates a loss of ten per cent, of all the 
money spent for instruction in the public schools 
in one year. This would amount to a large sum — 
several million dollars — a sum which might much 
better be saved or spent in caring for the health of 
the children. 

Relation to compulsory attendance. — Another 
important factor entering into this question is the 
change which has been brought about by compulsory 
attendance laws. I am sure that experienced teach- 
ers who can recall the days when we did not have 
the compulsory school attendance realize the differ- 
ence caused by the bringing into the schools of 
thousands of children who prior to that time did not 
attend school at all. The result is that our schools 
are filled with children with all kinds and degrees 



HEALTH SUPERVISION 143 

of physical incapacity because they are compelled by 
the state to come. Hence the operation of the com- 
pulsory attendance law places the burden upon the 
school either to take care of these defects and help 
to remedy them or see to it that parents do so. The 
following statement from Professor Terman's book 
on The Hygiene of the School Child shows the ex- 
tent of non-epidemic defects among the twenty 
million school children of the United States. He 
says that not far from two million (t. e., ten per 
cent.) are suffering from a grave form of malnutri- 
tion ; ten million or fifty per cent, have enough de- 
fective teeth to interfere seriously with health. At 
least ten per cent, more suffer from obstructed 
breathing due to enlarged tonsils. Ten per cent, 
more have cervical glands which need attention, 
many being tubercular. At least fifty per cent, have 
been infected with tuberculosis, of whom about ten 
per cent, will later succumb to the disease. Twenty 
per cent., or four million, have defective vision ; over 
five per cent, have defective hearing, and about five 
per cent, have spinal curvature. Not far from five 
and one-half per cent, have organic heart disease. 
You will see that this list of defects corresponds 
relatively to that given earlier in the chapter, but it 
presents more definitely the seriousness of this 
problem. 

School conditions may be detrimental to health. 



144 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

— The bringing together into as close proximity as 
is necessary in school life of large numbers of chil- 
dren increases the danger of infection and contagion, 
and would tend to increase all diseases unless special 
precaution and effort were taken to reduce them 
by using the proper sanitary measures. This 
points to one phase of our work ; i. e., the avoidance 
of contagion and the reduction of disease. In addi- 
tion to this the school can aid in the matter of 
physical defects by pointing them out to the home 
and securing cooperation in obtaining the neces- 
sary treatment. Also, the school has a distinct duty 
on the material side, in matters pertaining to the 
character of the building, light, heat, ventilation, 
water supply, plumbing, and all of those things 
which go together to make up a wholesome and 
sanitary environment. 

Schoolhouse planning is becoming a highly 
specialized science. — Designing is keeping pace 
with the educational needs of the modern school and 
also with the discoveries of science in relation to 
light, heat, ventilation, sanitation and other matters. 
In some of the states, the requirements have been 
embodied in a code of laws, which prescribe the 
character of design and construction for school 
buildings. The school board of the city of Indian- 
apolis has published a pamphlet entitled Standard- 
ized Requirements for Elementary Schools. This 



HEALTH SUPERVISION 145 

contains many helpful and suggestive details which 
should be considered in planning an efficient 
building. 

Relation of architects to this problem. — The plan- 
ning of school buildings has also been improved by 
the great degree of cooperation between architects 
and school officials. Architects are beginning to see 
that the best planning takes the work of the school 
fully into account, and that before they can plan a 
schoolhouse they need to know the kind of work 
which is to be conducted there. A great contribu- 
tion to this subject has been made by a committee 
of the National Education Association, which has 
worked for several years and has issued reports 
embodying the essential features for both elemen- 
tary and high schools. This material is available 
to any one who is interested and there is very little 
excuse for any community erecting a school build- 
ing to-day that is not entirely adequate from an 
educational as well as from a hygienic standpoint. 

There are two general plans for handling health 
supervision in schools; either under the local board 
of health, or the school board. The work may be 
entirely successful under either management, pro- 
vided it is given sufficient financial support and is 
competently handled. 

The school nurse. — General experience proves 
that a school nurse is of more value than a school 



146 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

physician. That which needs to be done in the 
school is not so much the diagnosis or treatment of 
disease as such, but is the application of the laws of 
hygiene to the end that correct health habits may 
result. The nurse has been more effective in secur- 
ing the actual carrying out of these things than the 
physician. 

It is unnecessary to call attention to the fact 
that modern school systems make a good many pro- 
visions for different classes of children based on 
their physical characteristics, or defects. For the 
under-nourished children, there are provided the 
school lunch and in some cases open-air rooms. 
For those with tubercular tendencies, we have the 
open-air school and all that goes with it. In many 
city systems there are special classes for children 
with defective sight or hearing and also for crippled 
children. So, gradually the public school is adjust- 
ing itself to the physical needs of the children who 
are at once the subjects and objects of education. 

The teacher's duty. — I should like to say just a 
word or two in regard to the teacher's relationship 
to this problem. No matter how effective the sys- 
tem of health supervision or medical inspection may 
be, the fact that the teacher has a better acquaintance 
with individuals than any one else points to the 
necessity of a certain amount of responsibility being 
assumed by her. The teacher must bring the need 



HEALTH SUPERVISION 147 

of an individual child to the attention of the prin- 
cipal, the nurse, the school doctor, or the parent, or 
to all of these. The time has long passed when it is 
permissible for any child to labor under a prohibi- 
tive physical handicap. Formerly it was felt that 
these things were individual matters, and that it was 
the family's business to attend to them. To a cer- 
tain extent, of course, that is true, and it is undesir- 
able that this matter should ever become entirely a 
public problem, On the other hand, it does seem 
that even in matters as intimate as physical wel- 
fare and health, there is often need for help from 
an outside source. Just as the men who went into 
the army did not particularly welcome the various 
inoculations which they were given in order to pre- 
vent disease, so there is often resentment at what is 
considered an interference with the freedom of the 
individual. Yet as a matter of fact, typhoid was 
practically eliminated among the soldiers in the last 
war, and smallpox was eliminated. There were cer- 
tain diseases which simply did not exist among the 
soldiers in the last war and there can be no doubt 
that the reason was that preventive measures were 
adopted. Parents are often unconscious of a con- 
dition, or if conscious of it, they are perhaps defer- 
ring it to a more favorable time, or may be simply 
putting off what they know to be unavoidable. A 
friendly word from some one who is interested in 



148 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

the child is often an encouragement to do that 
which the parent knows should be done. Therefore 
under the best system of inspection and supervision 
there is still the obligation on the part of the teacher 
to be concerned with the child's physical welfare. 

Physical education. — The problem of physical 
fitness will not be solved without an adequate pro- 
gram of physical education. This has not yet been 
developed, though great improvement has been 
made in recent years. The old idea of physical 
training was that gymnastics and formal drill was 
the essence of it. To this has been added the idea 
of play, games and sports, which develop coordina- 
tion and control as well as strength ; and which also 
develop many valuable moral qualities. 

But in two respects the work of physical educa- 
tion is still wanting. It is not based on a careful 
examination of each child, and hence can not meet 
his needs; and it has no definite objectives, but only 
general purposes. Until these are supplied, the 
results of the work will be uncertain. 

The duty of the school in regard to the health 
of the child can very well be summarized in three 
points : first, the furnishing of wholesome and 
healthful surroundings and environment; second, 
supplying such instruction and supervision as will 
prevent or remedy pathological conditions; and 
third, carrying out such a program of physical 



HEALTH SUPERVISION 149 

training as will result in proper growth, develop- 
ment and health habits. If we can bring about 
these conditions, we may feel well satisfied that the 
wealth of the nation as represented by the health of 
its boys and girls will be conserved. 

This is a problem not merely of building up the 
individual in the matter of the practise of personal 
hygiene but of carrying over into the larger life of 
the community standards of physical well-being 
which will be a resource to the nation. 

OUTLINE OF THE CHAPTER 

A. Data of Selective Service Draft most valuable. 

1. Extent of defects revealed. 

2. School children have same relative 

deficiency. 

B. Public health service not adequately financed. 

1. Education must change this condition. 
G Education depends upon health. 

1. Economic loss. 

2. Relation to compulsory attendance. 

3. School conditions jeopardous to health. 

4. School buildings scientifically planned. 

5. Duty of architects. 

6. The school nurse. 

7. Special classes. 

8. The teacher's duty. 
D. Physical education. 



ISO ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 
REFERENCES 

Bancroft — The Posture of School Children. 

Bennett — School Efficiency. 

Cubberley — Public School Administration, Chap. 
XX. 

Curtis — Play and Recreation in the Open 
Country. 

Cyclopedia of Education, Vol. I, "Apparatus." 

Dresslar — School Hygiene. 

Gulick & Ay res — Medical Inspection of Schools. 

Heck — Studies of Mental Fatigue in Relation to 
the Daily School Program. 

Kirkpatrick — Fundamentals of Child Study, 
Chap. XVII. 

Putnam — School Janitors, Mothers of Health. 

School Laws and Regulations. 

Terman — Hygiene of the School Child. 

Thorndike — Principles of Teaching, Chaps. 
II, III. 

U. S. Bureau of Education — Bulletin 16, 1913; 
18, 1913; 44, 1913;" 52, 1913; 4, i9*y>2i> I 9 I 5- 

TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION 

Why is the health of its pupils the concern of the school? 
Can the school assist in promoting public health? In what 
ways? Which is the more important, health supervision or 
physical education? Is the present-day teaching of hygiene 
effective? Can you point to an improvement in community 
health conditions due to the work of the school? Is it better 
to have school health supervision in charge of the Board of 
Health or of the School Board? How much is spent by your 
community on public health ? How much per pupil for health 
supervision ? 



CHAPTER XI 
pupils' marks and promotions 

School marks are a part of educational machin- 
ery. — The question of a suitable marking system is 
an old one in the educational world. There have 
been a great many discussions as to whether or not 
children should be marked in their work, and if so, 
what kind of a plan should be employed. In spite 
of all the discussions, most school systems continue 
to estimate the work of their pupils in some way. 
Not only is the pupil's progress through the schools 
determined by his marks, but to a great extent his 
admission to higher institutions of learning is based 
on this same record. 

Marks are needed for pupil's encouragement. — 
There seems to be a real need that some record 
should be made of the pupil's accomplishments. It 
seems to satisfy a need of the pupil for recognition 
and encouragement. While the pupil is not supposed 
to work for marks, still if required to work without 
obtaining any expression from the teacher as to the 
result of his work, it is very discouraging. Even 

151 



1 52 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

with older students, there seems to be a need of some 
recognition of effort outside of the self-satisfaction 
one takes in what he knows he has accomplished. 
I recall very well that about the middle of my col- 
lege course, our school gave up the idea of any 
grades. We were notified at the close of each 
semester whether or not we had passed in our 
courses. We were supposed to be sufficiently self- 
dependent not to need any incentive to stimulate our 
activity. At first we thought this was all right. It 
was a matter of indifference to many of us whether 
we received any marks or not. But soon we began 
to perceive that at the close of any term, the major- 
ity of the pupils passed in their courses. A few, per- 
haps, did not pass, but by far the larger majority 
passed, and we began to realize that a great differ- 
ence existed in the amount of effort which had been 
put forth by the pupils who were in this group. We 
felt that the institution should take some cognizance 
of this. In other words, there was a strong ten- 
dency to feel that unless the institution cared to 
set a little premium on application and attainment, 
the individual might possibly be content to do just 
enough to get along and satisfy the requirements. 
Perhaps that is not an ideal attitude, but certainly it 
is a very human one. Since that experience I have be- 
lieved that schools should have some system by which 
effort and accomplishment might be recognized. 



PUPILS' MARKS AND PROMOTIONS 153 

Difference in teachers' standards There are 

several difficulties in connection with any marking 
system. One of the chief ones is a variation in 
individual teachers. Let me give you a little quota- 
tion from Bennett's School Management. He says : 
"In every high school, college, or other institution 
where departmental teaching prevails, nothing is bet- 
ter established than that some teachers are chroni- 
cally severe markers while others are notoriously 
easy. One will characteristically year after year 
report about thirty per cent, of every class A's and 
perhaps twenty per cent. C's, while another dealing 
with the same identical pupils will perhaps run about 
five per cent. A's and seventy per cent, graded C or 
lower. The high grades of the one may be inter- 
preted as signs of thorough teaching or of slack 
examining, and the lower grades of the other as an 
indication of poor teaching or of severe testing." 
All teachers are familiar with this matter of individ- 
ual variation. It does not at all imply insincerity, 
nor favoritism, nor anything unfair. Rather, it 
implies a difficulty that is intrinsic in the very 
nature of the rating of accomplishment, and it is the 
problem of school management to remove that dif- 
ficulty if it be possible. 

Most marks are quantitative. — A second set of 
difficulties arising under almost all marking systems 
is that they are quantitative rather than qualitative ; 



154 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

i. e., they emphasize subject-matter, or knowledge of 
facts, and the acquisition and retention of a certain 
quantity of knowledge or information. It is very 
seldom that a marking system can be devised which 
takes account of effort, or if effort be included, then 
it does not take account of the relation of the attain- 
ment to the child's ability or capacity. It may be 
that if measured in terms of ability, a grade of 
seventy-five per cent, attained by one pupil would 
mean a very much higher achievement than that of 
ninety per cent, attained by another. Yet the ordi- 
nary marking system does not show the relation of 
attainment to ability. If the question be raised, why 
not let the marking system be quantitative, why not 
let it take account chiefly of subject-matter, the 
point at once arises that the subject-matter is not 
standardized. Even under the same course of study, 
the administration will vary so in different schools 
and under different teachers that a quantitative 
marking would result in a very great lack of uni- 
formity. While uniformity may not be necessary if 
what we are doing is trying to rate or measure 
something, it is important that we should measure 
it as accurately as possible. It would be absurd to 
have the measurements of material quantities meas- 
ured by different standards in different parts of a 
city or state. If a yard in the western part of Illinois 
were thirty inches, thirty-four inches in the north, 



PUPILS' MARKS AND PROMOTIONS 155 

thirty-eight inches in the east, and something else 
in the southern part a yard would not mean much. 
In other words, in so far as the marking question 
is a question of measuring results, it ought to be as 
nearly accurate as possible. 

Purpose of marking system is constructive. — 

One of the first things that should be considered in 
regard to a marking system is its purpose. It seems 
to me that the purpose is primarily a constructive 
one; i. e., the correction of defects and the removal 
of handicaps and deficiencies on the part of the child. 
In other words, the marking system should be an 
educational device in a positive sense, rather than 
a merely critical or negative affair. It is very im- 
portant to determine which of these two phases 
shall be emphasized, because this will determine what 
kind of marking system shall be used. 

The per cent, system. — Let us review briefly 
some of the principle systems of marking. The 
most common, of course, is the per cent, system. 
Pupils are marked in any exercise or any subject on 
the basis of one hundred per cent, for perfect work. 
This is probably the most widely used plan to-day, 
and it is a system which has been in vogue for many 
years. We may agree that there is a vague common 
understanding as to what is implied by this per 
cent, system, but there are a great many variable 
elements which enter into it. Suppose a pupil is 



156 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

marked fifty per cent, on some lesson or exercise. 
Does it mean that he knows fifty per cent, of what 
was assigned him, or fifty per cent, of that which 
was acquired by the brighest pupil? Until these 
questions are decided, a fifty per cent, mark simply 
means that you have measured this pupil's work by 
some kind of a yardstick, the length of which is 
not definitely determined. 

The literal system. — An attempt has been made 
to improve the per cent, system by adopting a system 
of letters — A, B, C; or, A, B, C and D. This is 
largely for the purpose of getting a larger category, 
on the assumption that children can thereby be more 
accurately grouped. If the groups are made larger, 
it does not necessitate a teacher's distinguishing 
between eighty-three and one-half per cent, and 
eighty-three and three-fourths per cent. As a rule, 
however, the letter system has been translated into 
per cents., so that A means grades of ninety to one 
hundred, B eighty to ninety, or other definite equiva- 
lents. So long as the per cent, idea is still the basis 
of the grading, not very much is gained, for there 
is still the difficulty of the uncertainty as to what 
an A really means. 

Qualitative marks. — A third plan is to use a 
series of terms such as Good, Fair, Poor, Excel- 
lent, etc., attempting to use qualitative words descrip- 
tive of the work itself. This system usually works 



PUPILS' MARKS AND PROMOTIONS 157 

very well when it is first adopted as a substitute for 
a per cent, or more mechanical system, but the diffi- 
culty with it is that in the course of time it becomes 
routinary and the words themselves begin to get a 
special meaning. With this in mind teachers have 
marked pupils "Good plus" and "Fair minus." 
Whenever that point is reached, the per cent, sys- 
tem might as well be used. 

Passing or failing. — Some schools have adopted 
the system of grouping the pupils into two classes — 
pass or fail, with no attempt to differentiate within 
the two groups. This plan is not very widely used, 
and as a rule is found unsatisfactory for the reason 
given above. 

Relative ranking. — The fifth plan is one which 
is more and more coming into use. It is the idea of 
relative ranking and the use of any system in con- 
junction with what can be determined about group 
attainment. As shown in the chapter on Individual 
Differences, there are about one-half of every class 
or group who are of average or medium attainment 
as compared with the rest of the group ; ten to twenty 
per cent, who are very good; and five to ten per 
cent, excellent. There are about the same number 
below the average, divided into poor and very poor. 
This indicates that on taking any group by itself, 
about half of that group will be of average intelli- 
gence or ability, and the other fifty per cent, will 



158 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

be divided almost equally above and below the mid- 
dle point of the group. The principle of relative 
ranking is simply this. The teacher shall grade half 
her class as of average or medium attainment ; one- 
fourth of it superior, and one-fourth of it inferior. 
It is possible, of course, under special conditions to 
have groups that do not exactly bear out these pro- 
portions, but in a vast majority of cases if this prin- 
ciple be used, the grading will be much more accu- 
rate than if based entirely on an individual basis. 

Standard tests. — There is this help to be obtained 
from intelligence tests and standard tests. For the 
most part these tests deal with a single line of ability 
or attainment, rather than with varied and compli- 
cated abilities. There is, of course, the added advan- 
tage that the tests themselves are standardized. By 
"standardized" we simply mean that they have been 
used a certain number of times until the tests them- 
selves come to have known value. Two tests of 
equal worth might be devised, but if one were used 
with fifty thousand children and the results tabu- 
lated, and the other were not used at all, then for 
the purpose of a criterion, the test which had been 
standardized through use would be of very much 
more value than the other. 

Rating of formal work — An important problem 
in connection with this grading matter is to what 
extent shall the more mechanical subjects be taken 



PUPILS' MARKS AND PROMOTIONS 159 

into account in grading the content subjects : i. e., 
how much shall be marked off in history for poor 
spelling, or for poor manuscript form, or for poor 
penmanship ? This is a subject that troubles depart- 
mental and high-school teachers very much. There 
are all shades of opinion from those who might be 
called standpatters who say that the teacher of his- 
tory can not concern herself at all with the spell- 
ing, has not sufficient time as it is, and if she stops 
to teach spelling, will never get any history taught. 
There is the other extreme view upheld by the one 
who takes the position that no mistake of any kind 
should ever be allowed to go unchallenged by any 
teacher. The true position is doubtless somewhere 
between these two extremes. 

Differences among teachers. — Another difficulty 
is that of having the grades mean the same thing to 
various teachers. About two years ago, an experi- 
ment* was conducted in order to show the wide 
variety of grading among teachers. A certain exam- 
ination paper in geometry was sent out by the 
North Central Association to two hundred different 
high schools that were members of the North Cen- 
tral Association. These schools were asked to have 
one of the geometry teachers grade that paper and 
mark it on the basis of one hundred per cent. The 
replies received were from one hundred and sixteen 



*Monroe, Measuring the Results of Teaching. 



160 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

teachers who marked this same paper all the way 
from twenty-nine per cent, to ninety-two per cent. 
There were thirteen teachers who marked it seventy- 
five, three who marked it seventy-six, two above 
ninety, one marked it below thirty, forty-seven gave 
it a passing grade (seventy-five or above), and 
sixty-nine considered it not a passing paper. Geom- 
etry is a fairly definite subject. If this had been 
an English paper, or a history paper, or some sim- 
ilar subject, what might have been the result? This 
seems almost fantastic. It seems impossible. A 
study of this sort shows almost too much. It would 
tend to prove that the per cent, system is entirely 
unworkable. Of course, it may be said that such a 
test is not fair. The teachers did not know the 
pupil, nor the work on which the questions were 
based, and had no background upon which to esti- 
mate the work except the mere quantity of informa- 
tion on the paper. To some extent such a test is not 
entirely fair, because undoubtedly the teacher could 
estimate the work of her own pupils very much more 
correctly and fairly than could be done under those 
conditions. But it shows the degree of variation 
under a system which has been considered definite. 
Indefiniteness of report card. — A third problem 
that arises in connection with grading is that the 
parent who receives the report is usually given no 
guidance or suggestion as to what should be done 



PUPILS' MARKS AND PROMOTIONS 161 

about it. In other words, unless the parent makes 
a special effort to have a consultation about the case, 
the report itself is usually not very indicative of what 
is the matter. When the child comes home with a 
low grade, as a rule the grade itself does not indi- 
cate very much about the solution of the trouble. 
Some of the inequalities which arise in grading may 
be illustrated by this kind of a case. Two children 
in the same family bring home grades. One has 
eighty-eight in arithmetic and the other ninety-three, 
but the former was the highest mark given in one 
class while the latter was below the average given 
in another class. The eighty-eight per cent, would 
represent far better work, but the parents would 
have no means of knowing this, not having the facts 
in regard to the marks of the entire class before 
them. Such a situation might easily result in the 
pupil having eighty-eight per cent, receiving a repri- 
mand, and the one having ninety-three per cent, 
being commended and held up as an example to the 
other. Such a situation is not at all improbable. 

Characteristics of a suitable report The follow- 
ing points should be covered by a report card. It 
should satisfy the pupil's sense of fairness and 
encourage him in his work ; it should give the parent 
an idea of the pupil's progress in comparison with 
the rest of the class ; it should show the nature and 
cause of failure, and the manner in which the home 



162 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

can cooperate; it should not be perfunctory in tone, 
but should impress the parents with the fact that the 
teacher is interested in the child's progress and is 
working hard to further it. 

These points may be difficult to incorporate in 
the report, but they are possible, and they are 
greatly to be desired. Such a report would have a 
good effect not only upon the pupil and the parents, 
but on the teacher as well. It would stimulate the 
teacher to a sympathetic interest and keep her from 
becoming routinary. 

Relation of reports to promotions. — The subject 
of promotions is related to that of pupils' marks 
because the marking system may retard or acceler- 
ate the progress of a child. If too mechanical a sys- 
tem is used, the pupil may be sacrificed to the 
exigencies of the system. The question of flexibil- 
ity of promotion has been discussed in the chapter 
on Individual Differences, and no repetition is neces- 
sary. A study recently made in a large city school 
system shows that approximately forty-one per cent, 
of the elementary children are making slow prog- 
ress ; forty-three per cent, normal progress, and fif- 
teen per cent, rapid progress. If this condition is 
typical there is evident need for a more careful 
handling of the whole question. 

Progress should not be impeded by avoidable 
obstacles. — Slow progress is not entirely an evil 



PUPILS' MARKS AND PROMOTIONS 163 

since it must be considered in relation to what the 
child is accomplishing, and what is being demanded 
of him. But the school should be very sure that no 
artificial barriers are being placed in the child's way, 
such as improperly adjusted courses of study, poor 
teaching, improper grading, or inadequate materials. 
Under normal conditions only about fifteen per 
cent, of the children should be making slow prog- 
ress, and if there are more than that, it is an indica- 
tion that the entire question needs study and the 
employment of new plans of teaching and 
organization. 

OUTLINE OF THE CHAPTER 

A. Marks not a new question. 

1. Needed for pupil's encouragement. 

2. Difficulties encountered. 

a. Different standards of teachers. 

b. Most systems are quantitative. 

3. Purpose should be constructive. 

B. Various systems of marking. 

1. Per cent, system. 

2. Literal system. 

3. Qualitative marks. 

4. Passing or failing. 

5. Relative ranking. 

6. Use of standard and intelligence tests. 

C. Problems of grading. 

1. Rating of formal work. 

2. Differences among teachers. 



1 64 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

3. Indefiniteness of report card. 

4. Characteristics of a suitable report. 
D. Relation of promotion to reports. 

1. Large amount of slow progress. 

2. Progress of pupil should not be impeded 

by artificial barriers. 

REFERENCES 

Ayres — Laggards in Our Schools. 

Bennett — School Efficiency. 

Chancellor — Teaching and Management, Chaps. 
Ill, V, VII. 

Colgrove — Teacher and the School, Chap. XL 

Dutton — School Management, p. 100, Chap. X. 

Judd — Measuring the Work of the Schools. 

Monroe — Measuring the Results of Teaching. 

Seeley — A Nezu School Management, Chap. V. 

Strayer — A Brief Course in the Teaching 
Process. 

Strayer & Norsworthy — How to Teach, Chap. 
XV. 

TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION 

What do you consider the best marking system? Will 
pupils work as well if they are merely marked "passed" or 
"failed"? Should a teacher change a child's mark if the 
pupil or parent protests that the mark is not fair? Should 
a teacher deliberately mark her pupils low at the beginning of 
a term in order to "make them work"? How much should 
the final examination count in relation to the daily work in 
making up the final average? Is a teacher who gives high 
grades apt to be a better teacher than one who is known as a 
"low-marker" ? 



CHAPTER XII 

SCHOOL BUILDINGS AND EQUIPMENT 

Material side not most important. — The first 
thing that should be said on this subject is that the 
material side of education is not the most important 
concern, just as it is not the most important side of 
life. 

There are many examples of splendid schools of 
all kinds which have done a noteworthy work in 
simple surroundings. The absence of elaborate, com- 
pletely equipped buildings has not prevented some 
of our most successful institutions from a remark- 
able accomplishment in an educational way. This 
fact is illustrated in nearly every town. Many excel- 
lent schools are doing splendid work, yet they are 
housed in buildings that are inadequate in many 
respects. 

Hence, the material side of education is not 
of as great concern as the intellectual and moral side. 
However, this does not mean that the subject of 
buildings and equipment should be neglected. Just 
as people are happier and better off, and as the com- 

165 



166 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

munity is more advanced if the homes and the work- 
shops and the other buildings are comfortable and 
sanitary and well adapted to their uses, so the school 
is better off if it is properly housed and equipped. 

School architecture is a modern development. — 
It is interesting to note that the ancient civilizations 
which reached a high degree of excellence in archi- 
tecture have left us no notable examples of school 
architecture. The classic buildings of ancient times, 
and of the medieval ages, are chiefly ecclesiastical in 
character. The earliest schools were more like 
churches than anything else. It is only within the 
last few years that school architecture has become a 
science in itself. To-day there are school architects 
who devote their entire time and ability to the plan- 
ning of schoolhouses, and there is now a literature 
of this subject which treats it fully. 

For several years past the National Education 
Association has maintained a committee on school- 
house planning. This committee has published re- 
ports which are of very great value. These reports 
present certain standards of schoolhouse construc- 
tion and design. These standards were obtained by 
averaging the measurements of buildings and rooms 
already in existence which were regarded as satis- 
factory by the people who were using them. A 
large number of buildings were studied and meas- 
ured, and the standards were set up from that study. 



SCHOOL BUILDINGS 167 

Copies of these reports may be obtained by writing 
the secretary of the National Education Association, 
Washington, D. C. 

Building should be adapted to use. — One of the 
first requisites of a schoolhouse, as of any other 
building, is that it should be adapted to the use which 
it is intended to serve. This seems quite axiomatic, 
and yet there are many examples in America of 
schoolhouses consisting of nothing but class-rooms. 
Within the last few years especially, the schools 
have felt the need of a different kind of provision. 
This has come about partly through the socialization 
of the school, through the use of the school as a 
community house, and through the introduction into 
the curriculum of lines of work such as manual and 
household arts, which require special provision. 

One of the leading features of modern school- 
house planning and construction is the factor of 
safety. The question of the type or class of the con- 
struction of the building, the number of stairways, 
the width of the stairways, the number of stories 
high which may be permitted, the question of the 
proper light, of heating and ventilating, and proper 
sanitary equipment — all of these are of compara- 
tively recent concern^ and the desirable requirements 
under each head are becoming standardized. 

In order to adapt the school building to the pur- 
poses which it is to subserve, let us consider briefly 



1 68 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

the kinds of activity carried on in the modern school. 
First of all are the academic studies. These require 
class-rooms or session rooms with comparatively 
few special features. The principal requirements 
for such class-rooms are adequate cubic capacity for 
the number of children housed, adequate light in 
order to work without injurious effort, and suitable 
heating* and ventilation for the conservation of the 
pupil's health. In addition to this certain equip- 
ment is needed such as blackboards, and various 
forms of apparatus for the teaching of the different 
subjects. 

A second line of work for which the modern 
school must provide is physical education and health 
conservation. This involves some provision for 
physical training both within the building itself and 
on the playground. For the most part this work 
takes the form of organized play rather than formal 
physical exercises which are sometimes thought of 
as the chief agency of physical training. If pos- 
sible, the building should contain a room which may 
be used both for class work in physical training and 
also for indoor games. Such a room may often be 
obtained by combining it with the assembly hall or 
auditorium. In addition to this the building should 
contain, if possible, a rest room and a room for such 
inspections as need to be made by health authorities. 
The third line of modern school work is manual 



SCHOOL BUILDINGS 169 

training* and domestic science. These subjects are 
now well established as part of the American school 
curriculum. In order that they may be carried on 
effectively a special room for each of these branches 
should be provided. This room should contain the 
special equipment needed for the work and for which 
the ordinary class-room would not be adapted. 

The above are the chief needs from the stand- 
point of instruction. There are other factors relat- 
ing to administration and the general conduct of 
the work which are also important. 

Indiana sanitary schoolhouse law. — In many 
states these matters have been the subject of legisla- 
tion and acts have been passed setting up standards 
of requirement for all the features above indicated. 
One of the most progressive of these acts is the 
Indiana Sanitary Schoolhouse Law passed in 191 1 
and amended in 19 14. The following quotations 
from this law are self-explanatory and will indicate 
the high standard which the state of Indiana has set 
for the construction of her school buildings. 

6616a. School Grounds and Houses, Rules Regu- 
lating, Sanitary Measures. — I. That after the going 
into effect of this act all schoolhouses which shall 
be constructed or remodeled shall be constructed in 
accordance and conform to the following sanitary 
principles, to-wit: 

(a) Sites. All sites shall be dry, and such 



170 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

drainage as may be necessary to secure and maintain 
dry grounds and dry buildings, shall be selected and 
supplied. Said site and said buildings or any addi- 
tions to present buildings, shall not be nearer than 
five hundred (500) feet to any steam or interurban 
railroad, or livery stable, except in the case of voca- 
tional schools, and except in cases where the limita- 
tion shall be waived on approval of the superintend- 
ent of public instruction and secretary of the state 
board of health; or nearer than five hundred (500) 
feet to any horse, mule or cattle bam used for breed- 
ing purposes; or any noise-making industry or any 
unhealthful conditions. And when such school 
building or school site is so located and established 
no livery stable, horse, mule or cattle barn used for 
breeding purposes, or any noise-making industry or 
any unhealthful conditions shall thereafter be con- 
structed, erected or maintained within five hundred 
(500) feet of any school building, school site or 
school grounds. Good dry walks shall lead from 
the street or road to every schoolhouse and to all 
outhouses, and suitable playgrounds shall be 
provided. 

(b) Buildings. School buildings, if of brick, 
shall have a stone foundation, or the foundation may 
be of brick or concrete : provided, a layer of slate, 
stone or other impervious material be interposed 
above the ground line, or the foundation may be of 
vitrified brick and a layer of impervious material 
will not be required. Every two-story schoolhouse 
shall have a dry, well-lighted basement under the 
entire building, said basement to have cement or 
concrete floor, and ceiling to be not less than ten 



SCHOOL BUILDINGS 171 

(10) feet above the floor level. The ground floor 
of all schoolhouses shall be raised at least three (3) 
feet above the ground level and have, when pos- 
sible, dry well-lighted basement under the entire 
building and shall have solid foundation of brick, 
tile, stone or concrete, and the area between the 
ground and the floor shall be thoroughly ventilated. 
Each pupil shall be provided with not less than 225 
cubic feet of space, and the interior walls and the 
ceiling shall be either painted or tinted some neutral 
color, as gray, slate, buff or green. 

(c) Lighting and Seating. All schoolrooms 
where pupils are seated for study shall be lighted 
from one side only, and the glass area shall be not 
less than one-sixth of the floor area, and the win- 
dows shall extend from not less than four (4) feet 
from the floor to at least one foot from the ceiling, 
all windows to be provided with roller or adjustable 
shades of neutral color, as blue, gray, slate, buff or 
green. Desk and desk seats shall preferably be 
adjustable and at least twenty per cent. (20%) of 
all desks and desk seats in each room shall be adjust- 
able and shall be so placed that the light shall fall 
over the left shoulders of the pupils. For left- 
handed pupils desks and seats may be placed so as 
to permit the light to fall over the right shoulder. 

(d) Blackboards and Cloakrooms. Black- 
boards shall be preferably of slate, but of whatever 
material, the color shall be a dead black. Cloak- 
rooms, well lighted, warmed and ventilated, or sani- 
tary lockers, shall be provided for each study 
schoolroom. 

(e) Water Supply and Drinking Arrange- 



172 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

merits. All schoolhouses shall be supplied with pure 
drinking water, and the water supply shall be from 
driven wells or other sources approved by the health 
authorities. Only smooth, stout glass or enameled 
metal drinking cups shall be used ; water buckets and 
tin drinking cups shall be unlawful and are forbid- 
den, and whenever it is practicable, flowing sani- 
tary drinking fountains which do not require drink- 
ing cups shall be provided. All schoolhouse wells 
and pumps shall be supplied with troughs or drains 
to take away waste water, and under no conditions 
shall pools or sodden places or small or large mud- 
holes be allowed to exist near a well. When water 
is not supplied at pumps or from water faucets or 
sanitary drinking fountains then covered tanks or 
coolers supplied with spring or self-closing faucets 
shall be provided. 

(f) Heating and Ventilation. All schoolhouses 
hereafter constructed or remodeled, shall be sup- 
plied with heating and ventilating systems. Fresh 
air shall be taken from outside the building and 
properly diffused without draughts, through each 
schoolroom during school session. Each schoolroom 
shall be supplied with foul air flues of ample size to 
withdraw any foul air therefrom at a minimum rate 
of eighteen hundred (1,800) cubic feet per hour for 
each two hundred and twenty- five (225) cubic feet 
of said schoolroom space, regardless of outside 
atmospheric conditions ; and heaters of all kinds shall 
be capable of maintaining a temperature of seventy 
(70) degrees Fahrenheit in all schoolrooms, halls, 
office rooms, laboratories and manual training 
rooms, in all kinds of weather, and maintaining in 



SCHOOL BUILDINGS 173 

each schoolroom a relative humidity of not less than 
forty per cent. : provided, that when artificial ventila- 
tion, by use of fan or blower, is adopted, the provi- 
sion as to entrance of fresh air shall be from out- 
side of the building. 

It is hereby made lawful for any township 
trustee, board of school trustees and boards of 
school commissioners to establish and maintain open- 
air schools, and when such open-air schools are 
established the provisions of this act governing 
heating and ventilation shall not apply to such open- 
air schoolrooms. 

(g) Water-closets and Outhouses. Water- 
closets, or dry closets when provided, shall be effi- 
cient and sanitary in every particular and furnished 
with stalls for each hopper or place; and when said 
water or dry closets are not provided, then sanitary 
outhouses, well separated for the sexes, shall be 
provided. Good dry walks shall lead to all out- 
houses and screens or shields be built in front of 
them. Outhouses for males shall have urinals 
arranged with stalls and with conduits of galvanized 
iron, vitrified drain pipe, or other impervious mate- 
rial, draining into a sewer vault or other suitable 
place approved by the health authorities. Any 
agent, person, firm, or corporation, selling, trading 
or giving to any township trustee, school trustee 
or board of school commissioners, any materials, 
supplies, sanitary apparatus or systems, which when 
constructed or remodeled or installed, in or for any 
schoolhouse hereafter constructed or remodeled, 
which does not in all respects comply with the pro- 
visions of this act, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor 



174 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

and upon conviction thereof, shall be fined in any 
sum not more than five hundred dollars ($500.00), 
to which may be added imprisonment in the county 
jail for any determinate period not more than six 
(6)' months and shall be punished by a further fine 
of not less than five dollars ($5.00) for each day 
he shall fail to comply with any order of any court 
having jurisdiction for the correction of any such 
defects in such schoolhouses hereafter constructed or 
remodeled; and any money claim for the construc- 
tion or remodeling, or for any materials, supplies, 
sanitary apparatus or systems furnished or con- 
structed in or for any schoolhouse hereafter con- 
structed or remodeled^ which does not in every way 
and in all respects comply with the requirements of 
this act, shall be null and void. This act amends 
Section 6616a of the Revised Statutes of 1914- 
6616b. Temperature, Uncleanl'iness, Teachers, 
Penalties. — 2. Whenever, from any cause, the tem- 
perature of a schoolroom falls to sixty degrees 
Fahrenheit or below, without the immediate pros- 
pect of the proper temperature, namely, not less than 
seventy degrees Fahrenheit, being attained, the 
teacher shall dismiss the school until the fault is 
corrected ; and it shall also be the duty of all teachers 
to immediately send home any pupil who is per- 
ceptibly ill in any way, or who* is unclean and emits 
offensive bodily odors or who is infested with lice 
or other vermin ; and the truant officer shall arrest 
and prosecute parents or guardians who do not rid 
their children of vermin and bodily uncleanliness, 
when notified to do so. Refusal of parents or 
guardians to free their children or wards of vermin 



SCHOOL BUILDINGS 175 

or to bathe and cleanse them, making them fit to go 
to school, shall be punished by a fine of not less 
than five dollars and imprisonment for ten days or 
both. And if the refusal or neglect of parents or 
guardians to bathe and cleanse their children or 
wards makes it necessary, then the truant officer, 
upon order of the school authorities, shall have it 
done, the cost to be paid by the school authorities 
from the school funds. Whenever diphtheria, 
scarlet fever or other contagious and infectious dis- 
eases break out in any school, it shall be the duty of 
the township trustee, school board, school trustee or 
the school authority or authorities having control, 
to have medical inspection made of the pupils, and 
all found in any degree ill, shall be sent home and 
there retained until the local health officer gives a 
certificate of health, then such child may be again 
admitted to school. It shall be unlawful for school 
authorities to employ teachers or janitors who are 
not able-bodied or who are intemperate or are ad- 
dicted to drugs or who have tuberculosis or syphilis. 
All schoolhouses shall be specially cleaned and disin- 
fected each year, before they are used for school 
purposes. The cleaning shall consist in first sweep- 
ing, then scrubbing the floors, washing the windows 
and all woodwork, including the wooden parts of 
seats and desks, and the disinfecting shall be done 
in accordance with the rules of the state board of 
health. Township trustees, school boards and 
boards of school commissioners who neglect or 
refuse to obey the provisions of this section, shall 
be fined in any sum of not less than ten nor more 
than one hundred dollars, and each said refusal or 
neglect shall constitute a separate offense. 



176 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

In addition to the requirements above indicated, 
there are also requirements of the state board of 
health and the state fire marshal and in many 
municipalities there are local ordinances setting up 
additional requirements. All these are designed to 
improve the efficiency of the building and to safe- 
guard the life and health of the pupils and teachers. 
They have resulted in a great improvement in the 
character of school architecture. 

National Education Association standards. — 

Another interesting set of standards are those 
worked out by a committee of the National Educa- 
tion Association. This committee investigated a 
large number of buildings of a good type and 
arranged the floor space in a table containing the 
following items : instruction, administration, stair- 
ways and corridors, accessories, flues and construc- 
tion. The committee also indicated the proportion 
of floor area in each story of a building which 
should be devoted to the above mentioned purposes. 
These percentages are as follows : 

Instruction 50% 

Administration 12% 

Stairways and Corridors. 20% 

Accessories , 3% 

Flues 5% 

Construction . . . . 10% 

These per cents, show the division of floor space 



SCHOOL BUILDINGS 177 

which should exist in a well proportioned school 
building and the following of this table will enable 
any school district to obtain buildings which are well 
adapted to the uses for which they are intended. 

Community center. — In addition to the school 
needs which the building subserves, there are cer- 
tain community needs which are coming to be recog- 
nized as the legitimate province of the public school 
building. Such uses are for neighborhood meetings, 
improvement clubs, parent-teacher organizations and 
for general social center purposes. Such uses of the 
school building are very desirable because they assist 
in forming a connecting link between the school 
and the community. They keep the parents and 
patrons in touch with school life and school needs 
and are an important factor in producing that com- 
munity interest so essential to the success of demo- 
cratic institutions. In general, any community use 
of the building should be encouraged which does not 
interfere with regular school work. 

Furniture and equipment. — The furniture and 
equipment of a school is of importance because it 
has a bearing on the health and physical well-being 
of the pupils as well as upon the effectiveness of 
their work. Great harm may be done by improper 
kinds of school furniture and insufficient provision 
for proper ventilation and other prerequisites to 
good work. Great improvement has been made in 



178 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

these directions in recent years. This improvement 
is especially noticeable in the matter of lighting and 
ventilation. A visit to a schoolroom of the older 
type will usually reveal the fact that there were not 
enough windows to furnish a sufficient amount of 
light and that the windows were not properly 
placed. Nearly all of the older schoolrooms had 
windows on at least two sides so that cross-lights 
and shadows were produced. There are even rooms 
where pupils are obliged to face the light which is 
exceedingly detrimental and injurious. The mod- 
ern plan is to place all windows on one side of the 
room and to arrange the seats so that the light will 
be upon the left of the pupils. Ordinarily sufficient 
light will be supplied if the area of glass in the win- 
dows is equal to one-sixth of the area of the floor. 

Window shades. — Another phase of this question 
is the matter of window shades. Windows which 
are exposed to the direct light of the sun must be 
shaded at certain portions of the day. It is very 
common for the shades to be drawn in such a way 
as to exclude most of the light from the room. It is 
seldom that the shades of a schoolroom are properly 
adjusted. This is no doubt due to the fact that 
those in the room are unconscious of the lack of 
sufficient light and are neglectful of a systematic 
plan of managing the shades so as to afford suffi- 
cient light without direct sunlight. 



SCHOOL BUILDINGS 179 

Ventilation. — Formerly ventilation was obtained 
chiefly through the windows. The air obtained in 
this way is usually fresh but it is not heated and 
produces harmful effects when blowing directly 
upon the pupils. Modern systems of forced ventila- 
tion attempt to correct these disadvantages. At 
present the greatest defect in the artificial systems 
is in the distribution of the air. Frequently it is 
admitted to the room in sufficient quantity but in a 
single stream so that it produces a current of fresh 
air in one part of the room but leaves dead air 
places in other parts and thus ventilates only partly. 
However, continual progress is being made with this 
question and no doubt the problem of distribution 
of fresh air will soon be solved. 

It is always possible to place window boards in 
the windows and thus provide for a certain amount 
of fresh air without producing drafts. This is much 
better than direct window ventilation and is very 
satisfactory as a substitute for artificial systems if 
they are not available. 

School furniture. — Another splendid modern 
improvement is the adjustable seat and desk. It is 
possible by the use of the adjustable seat to furnish 
every pupil with a seat adapted to his size. It is not 
necessary that all of the seats in a room should be 
adjustable but at least a fourth of them should be. 
This will enable all the pupils to be provided with 



180 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

seats of such height that they will be comfortable 
and will suffer no injurious effects from improper 
seating arrangements. 

Another modern improvement is the movable 
furniture. This is in the form of an adjustable 
chair with a drawer underneath the seat for book9 
and other school materials and with an adjustable 
desk in front for study and writing. This furniture 
is especially desirable in that it allows for the social- 
ization of class-room work. It enables the class to 
be grouped in other ways than the usual formal 
arrangement and in case floor space is needed for 
dramatization or games or group work of any kind, 
the seats may be moved against the wall and the 
floor space cleared. 

There are two disadvantages of movable furni- 
ture. It is very noisy unless some provision is made 
for covering the floor with linoleum or by putting 
special tips on the chairs, and it also jeopardizes the 
lighting of the pupils' work if the chairs are so 
placed with the light that it does not fall from the 
left of the pupil. These disadvantages may both be 
overcome but they should be taken care of in case 
movable furniture be used. 

Blackboards — Good blackboards, preferably of 
natural slate, should be provided in every school- 
room. For the display of permanent work, a nar- 
row strip of blackboard or tackboard above the 



SCHOOL BUILDINGS 181 

board at the front of the room should be supplied. 
In placing the blackboard care should be exercised 
to see that the light falls upon it at the proper angle. 
Much eye strain results from attempting to read 
from the blackboard in the face of improperly 
reflected light. 

Book and supply cabinets — Every schoolroom 
should be equipped with suitable book and supply 
cabinets as an aid to good school housekeeping. 
Frequently these factors are omitted either as a mat- 
ter of oversight or as a matter of economy, but 
they have much to do with the good work of the 
teacher and by all means should be provided. 

Apparatus and material. — So far as possible 
apparatus and illustrative material should be made 
by the pupils themselves. They are far more attrac- 
tive as a rule and are more useful. Such material 
should not be too elaborate. If so, there is danger 
that the interest of the pupil will center in the 
apparatus rather than in the effects which it is 
intended to teach or illustrate. Simplicity is the 
keynote here. 

Supplementary books. — The time has long since 
passed when a single text-book is sufficient in any 
subject. Abundant reference material should be sup- 
plied to the pupils of every grade. In the lower 
grades readers, nature study books, stories of 
biography and history should be supplied in abun- 



182 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

dance. Books are the principle tools of the school 
and the work should not be allowed to fail through 
the meagerness of this provision. 

Other devices. — At the present time there is 
great interest in the use of projection apparatus, 
particularly the motion-picture machine. Films are 
being prepared with a distinctly educational purpose 
without the thought of being entertaining. Since 
more than ninety per cent, of the pupils are visualiz- 
ers it is very important that good visual methods 
should be used. Projection apparatus of various 
kinds has long been of great value in the presenting 
of certain subjects, particularly scientific subjects, 
and no doubt the motion picture will be adapted to 
serve a distinct aim in the field of education. 

An important thing to remember in connection 
with the material side of school life is that it is inci- 
dental, but still of considerable importance. Just as 
our comfort and well-being depend upon pleasant 
homes which are convenient in their appointments 
and wholesome and sanitary in their arrangement, 
so in like manner does the well-being of the school 
depend upon its plan and material equipment. The 
present tendency is distinctly one of betterment in 
these lines and all progressive communities are im- 
proving their facilities as rapidly as their means 
permit. 



SCHOOL BUILDINGS 183 

OUTLINE OF THE CHAPTER 

A. Material side not most important. 

1. Good work may be done in inadequate 

buildings. 

2. Buildings and equipment should not be 

disregarded. 

B. School architecture a modern development. 

1. Classical buildings chiefly ecclesiastical. 

2. National Education Association standards. 

C. Building should be adapted to its use. 

1. More than class-rooms needed. 

2. Factors of safety. 

3. Modem school requirements. 

a. Academic studies. 

b. Physical education. 

c. Practical arts. 

D. Provisions of Indiana Sanitary Schoolhouse 

Act. 

1. Sites for school buildings. 

2. Buildings. 

3. Lighting and seating. 

4. Blackboards and cloakrooms. 

5. Water supply and drinking arrangements. 

6. Heating and ventilation. 

7. Water-closets and outhouses. 

8. Temperature, uncleanliness. 

E. National Education Association building 

standards. 

1. Percentage of floor area. 

2. Useful as check. 

F. School building as community center. 

G. Furniture and equipment, and its relation to 

well-being of pupils. 



184 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 



Window shades. 

Ventilation. 

Furniture. 

Blackboards. 

Book and supply cabinets. 

Apparatus and material. 

Supplementary books. 

Other devices. 

REFERENCES 



Bennett — School Efficiency, Chaps. II, III, IV, 
V, VI, VII, VIII. 

Dresslar — School Hygiene, Chaps. II, III, V, X, 
XI, XII, XIII, XIV, XV. 

Search — An Ideal School, Chap. V. 

Seeley — A Nem School Management, Chaps. 

XX, XXI. 

Terman — Hygiene of the School Child, Chaps. 
X, XIV. 

United States Bureau of Education — Bulletins 
5, igio; 12, igu; 28, 1912; 40, 1913. 

TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION 

Should a school building be entirely fire-proof? How 
much more does it cost than "slow-burning" construction? 
How wide should the corridors and stairs be? Should inte- 
rior convenience be sacrificed to exterior appearance? How 
can a school district assure itself that it will have a desirable 
building? Name some of the conveniences which should be 
provided in a schoolhouse which are commonly omitted. 
Describe the best school building you have ever seen. 



CHAPTER XIII 

THE TEACHER'S USE OF MEASUREMENTS 

A new science of education — Within the past 
decade there has been developing a new science of 
education. This has consisted of the application of 
statistical methods to educational and administrative 
problems. The attempt to estimate educational 
processes quantitatively has been illuminating, and 
has refined the methods of administration, and to a 
lesser degree of teaching. 

In the field of school administration the statisti- 
cal method is particularly valuable. It makes pos- 
sible the use of school facts as the basis of school 
policy. Such questions as the financial support of 
education, the building needs of the schools and 
other similar problems dealing with the material side 
of education can easily be reduced to a statistical 
basis. A careful study of the facts pertaining to 
such matters will reveal the action which should be 
taken and will prevent a school district from serious 
mistakes in policy. 

Many school systems have established depart- 

185 



i86 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

ments of research for the specific purpose of making 
statistical studies relative to problems of manage- 
ment and problems of teaching. These departments 
of research are in charge of trained directors who 
are especially prepared for their work. The studies 
which are being made and published by these depart- 
ments of research are affording a valuable contribu- 
tion to educational literature.* 

The value of measurements in connection with 
the work of teaching is chiefly from the standpoint 
of educational diagnosis. The attempt to measure 
educational processes and results exactly and scien- 
tifically makes possible a more accurate definition 
of the work to be done. This is of great value since 
just as the successful treatment of illness depends 
on an accurate diagnosis, so the proper educational 
procedure is based on a correct estimate of the 
pupil's capacities, his needs and his attainments. 

It has been maintained by some educational 
authorities that educational processes can not be 
measured because they are qualitative and variable, 
yet higher mathematics teaches us that variables can 
be measured and shows us the methods of doing it. 



*A good example of the kind of work here referred to is 
The Building Survey of the Detroit Public Schools in 1920. 
This study in a detailed manner shows the needs of the 
Detroit city schools for the year 1920-1921. It would make 
possible a building program which would exactly meet the 
needs of the city of Detroit. 



USE OF MEASUREMENTS 187 

Measurement of variables — An illustration of 
the possibility of the measurement of an uncertain 
quantity is furnished by the actuarial tables used by 
life insurance companies. These tables show the 
number of years which any one of a given age may 
expect to attain, and they are so accurate that mil- 
lions of dollars of capital are invested in the life 
insurance business on the assumption that the tables 
are correct. While these tables of expectancy may 
not inform an individual of the exact number of 
years he will live, they will show almost exactly the 
number of people per thousand who will die in any 
given year in any given locality without specifying 
who those individuals are. 

Another illustration of the standardizing of 
measurements is furnished by the charts and tables 
showing the physical proportions of human beings. 
These tables show the correct measurements of 
height as related to weight and the dimensions 
which the other parts of the body should have in 
order to be of correct proportions. These tables 
have been derived by the measurement of a very 
large number of persons and striking an average of 
all the measurements. No one person may exactly 
conform to all the figures of the table, yet the table 
furnishes a standard or norm by which the individual 
may judge his amount of deviation from the 
standard. 



188 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

The standard tests used in educational work are 
chiefly derived by means of averages; for example, 
if the average rate of oral reading of many thou- 
sands of fourth-grade children be known, it is fair 
to assume that this average rate is a standard of 
such reading. Any child who was either above or 
below that average might justly judge of his own 
performance as being either better or poorer than 
the average and feel that he had measured his per- 
formance in terms of a proper standard. 

Method is a means. — In discussing this question 
of statistical method^ it is important to remember 
that a method is a means of doing something. A 
consideration of method should never cause the 
means to be regarded as of greater importance than 
the end to be attained. In other words a method is 
not an end in itself, but only a means to an end. At 
times a study of methods in education has almost 
ignored the aims to be attained. Books have been 
published on educational methods without even 
stating the aims for which the methods were con- 
sidered valid. 

The chief requisite of a good method of doing 
anything is that it shall be both economical and 
effective, that is, it should be able to accomplish the 
result required with the least expenditure of time, 
labor and money. Good methods are important, 
therefore, in preventing failure of attainment and 
waste of materials and labor. 



USE OF MEASUREMENTS 189 

Two classes of problems. — There are two kinds 
of tasks for which the statistical method is valuable 
in education. The first is the type which may be 
grouped under the heading of administrative ques- 
tions. These have to do with the finances of the 
school system, the tax rate, the preparation of the 
school budget, the use of approved accounting 
methods, providing for adequate buildings for the 
housing of the schools, seeing to it that these build- 
ings are in a sanitary condition, providing a suitable 
schedule of salaries for teachers and other employees, 
the organization of the work of the schools such as 
the classification of pupils, the arrangement of time 
schedules, the grading and promotion of pupils, and 
the supplying of courses of study and the materials 
needed for teaching. All these questions as well as 
many others are problems of administration. They 
lend themselves to a factual treatment because 
the data concerning them is definite and may easily 
be collected and used as a basis for the determina- 
tion of school policy. 

Another set of problems for which the statistical 
method is valuable may be included under the head 
of pedagogical questions. Such questions are, find- 
ing out the ability of the pupil, determining the kind 
and amount of his previous training, establishing 
the deficiencies of the pupil in the various subjects, 
determining his rate of progress in a subject and 



190 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

providing for satisfactory progress, and the meas- 
urement of the pupil's attainment in connection 
with his work. All these have to do directly with 
the work of instruction, and the statistical method 
will throw light upon these matters by furnishing 
the teacher with the facts upon which conclusions 
can be based relative to the kind of instruction 
needed in order to produce the educational results 
which are the objective of the course of study. 

Examinations have not been a satisfactory 
measure — The need of measuring or determining 
the above educational factors is not new. It has 
always been performed by teachers and educators 
and it has been performed satisfactorily as a gen- 
eral rule, but there has been a great deal of uncer- 
tainty in dealing with some of these matters and 
teachers themselves have often felt the need of 
more definite standards of judging. For example, 
the measuring of the achievement of pupils in the 
various subjects has been done heretofore chiefly 
by means of examinations. These examinations 
were usually set by the individual teacher and the 
questions were usually left to the individual 
teacher's judgment. This resulted in much uncer- 
tainty as to the worth of the examination and its 
validity to test the results of instructional work. It 
was very much like trying to measure cloth with an 
elastic yardstick. A standard of measure itself 



USE OF MEASUREMENTS 191 

should be as nearly definite as possible in order that 
it may be a true measure. The failure to have def- 
inite standards resulted in many ludicrous incidents. 
Monroe quotes an example* of an examination 
paper in geometry which was graded by more than 
one hundred different teachers. The resulting marks 
varied from twenty-nine per cent, to ninety-two per 
cent, and the largest number of teachers agreeing 
on any one mark was thirteen. While it may be 
claimed that such marks do not need to be abso- 
lutely accurate and that the judgment of the teacher 
is sufficiently accurate for the purpose of instruc- 
tion and promotion^ the fact remains that a nearer 
approach to accuracy can not be thought to be objec- 
tionable and any improvement in dealing with this 
question would be a real aid to the cause of 
education. 

In this respect the new method is of value. It 
sets up definite scales of attainment in various sub- 
jects and rates the child on these scales in accord- 
ance with his performance. In this way it tends to 
create a yardstick of wood instead of one of rubber 
or other elastic material. 

Steps in the scientific method. — The chief steps 
in the scientific method as outlined by H. O. Ruggt 



*Referred to in Chapter XI. 

^Statistical Methods Applied to Education. 



192 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

are the collection, tabulation and analysis of data. 
The collection of facts may be made either by per- 
sonal investigation or by questionnaire. The num- 
ber of facts collected should be sufficiently great to 
make the conclusion drawn from them justifiable 
and the data should be matters of fact rather than 
matters of opinion. Tabulation of facts consists in 
the arrangement of data in a form which will render 
it capable of analysis and this analysis consists in 
the classification of the data and its summarization. 

It is impossible to enter into a detailed descrip- 
tion of these steps but the following illustration 
clearly shows the method applied to the solution of 
the problem. 

The problem used as an illustration of the type 
of statistical study which is of great value to any 
school system is that of the number of children in a 
given school system at a certain time, who have had 
some part of their school life in other systems. 

This problem is a part of a larger study to deter- 
mine the influence which this immigration into this 
school system has upon the facts of age and prog- 
ress, and upon school attainment. 

The first step in the larger study was the col- 
lection of the information needed from the children 
or their parents, and the school records. This infor- 
mation was entered by the teacher upon the card 
form on the opposite page. 



USE OF MEASUREMENTS 



193 



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Indplt. 
SchooU 


Gi.de 


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Ounide 
SchooU 


Progrea* 


ACE 


Parents 


Room r-_^-_ 


NAME 


Do 1 - ol Birth 




F.r,. To. 


Secood Teal 


Thud Tea 


Fourth Trtt 


SUBJECT 


Score 


Dcnauon 


Scotc 


Deviation 


Scoie 


Deviaaoo 


Score 


Dr aauoo 









































































































































































This first record was an individual record, and 
was summarized by the teacher by grades, by sex, 
and by color. This summary was made up by sort- 
ing the cards into groups according to specific 
instructions and entering the numbers on the blank 
printed on page 194, which shows the summary from 
one school. 

These summaries were tabulated by the Depart- 
ment of Research by grades, by schools, by sex and 
by color for the city. A part of the report showing 
the facts concerning the immigration into the Indian- 
apolis school system is reprinted to show the use of 
statistics in bringing out the problem. 

One of the facts which has much influence in 
the matter of rate of progress through the schools 











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194 



USE OF MEASUREMENTS 195 

is the shifting of school population from schools 
outside the city to the schools of Indianapolis. This 
factor has never been considered in any study in 
Indianapolis and no comparative figures are 
available. 

That the item of turnover is a vital factor in 
the administration of the schools of Indianapolis is 
readily seen from the fact that approximately one- 
third of the pupils in school have had one or more 
years in schools outside the city. Of the 37,668 
children in school in February, 1920, 10,818 
have not had all of their school training in 
Indianapolis. 

White elementary schools — In the elementary 
white schools, there were enrolled at the time of this 
study 28,366 children. Of these 7,638 or 26.9 per 
cent, had one or more years in outside schools. Table 
A shows that of 28,366 children enrolled, 14,218 
were boys and 14,148 were girls. Of the 14,218 boys 
10,274; and of the 14,148 girls, 10,354 have spent 
all of their school lives in the Indianapolis schools. 
Of the 7,638 pupils who spent some time in outside 
schools 701 pupils came into Indianapolis last year 
before March first, 2,523 had been in the Indian- 
apolis schools one-half year but less than two years, 
1,636 two years and less than three and 1,640 more 
than four years. Of the 1,640 who had been in the 
Indianapolis schools four years or more, 917 had 



196 



ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 



spent one year in outside schools : 469, two years ; 
189 three years; 39, four years; 26, more than four 
year. 

Table A — Children in Elementary White Schools 
classified by sex and by years in Indianapolis and 
outside schools: 



In Outside 


In Indpls. 








Schools 


Schools 








Years 


Years 


Total 


Boys 


Girls 


Total 




28,366 


14,218 


14,148 





all 


20,628 


10,274 


io,3S4 


1 


1 


634 


312 


322 


2 


1 


565 


258 


297 


3 or more 


1 


1,324 


674 


650 


1 


2 


388 


206 


182 


2 


2 


35i 


177 


174 


3 


2 


306 


145 


161 


4 or more 


2 


59i 


305 


268 


1 


3 


376 


212 


164 


2 


3 


329 


169 


160 


3 


3 


231 


131 


100 


4 


3 


126 


38 


88 


5 or more 


3 


126 


60 


66 


1 4 


or more 


917 


459 


458 


2 4 


or more 


469 


236 


233 


3 4 


or more 


189 


101 


88 


4 4 


or more 


39 


28 


11 


5 4 


or more 


12 


6 


6 


6 4 


or more 


5 


3 


2 


7 4 


or more 


3 


3 




8 or more 4 


or more 


6 


1 


5 


All 





701 


370 


33i 



USE OF MEASUREMENTS 197 

By Grades 

Boys — Of the 14,218 boys enrolled, 3,944 or 
27.7 per cent, had spent one or more years in outside 
schools. The per cent, of turnover is very small in 
grades iB, iA and 2B, and increases until it 
reaches a maximum of 41.47 per cent, in 5 A, or 455 
of the 1,097 boys enrolled in the 5 A grade have 
spent one or more years in outside schools. In grades 
6B to 8A the average per cent, of turnover is ap- 
proximately 35 per cent. 

The unusual per cent, in 5A is probably due to 
the fact that 5A grade is the minimum required by 
law for the granting of age and schooling certifi- 
cates commonly called work permits. Children who 
are making slow progress and are dissatisfied with 
school drop out after the completion of this grade. 
They are, of course, not the only ones who drop 
out, but they are more likely to drop out than the 
others. 

Table B classifies the white boys in elementary 
white schools by grades and by the facts of attend- 
ance or non-attendance in outside schools with per 
cents. 

Table B — White boys in Indianapolis Elementary 
Schools classified by grades and by attendance and 
non-attendance upon outside schools with percent- 
age distribution. 



198 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 







All Time 


Some Time 


Percentage 






in Indpls. 


in Outside 


Distribution 


ades 


Total 


Schools 


Schools 


Indpls. 


Outside 


otal 


14,218 


10,274 


3,944 


72.3 


27.7 


iB 


799 


770 


29 


96.36 


3-64 


iA 


i,357 


1,270 


87 


93-6 


6.4 


2B 


831 


692 


139 


83.29 


16.71 


2A 


1,165 


910 


255 


78.12 


21.88 


3B 


782 


593 


189 


74-55 


2545 


3A 


950 


705 


245 


74.21 


2579 


4 B 


892 


630 


262 


70.63 


29.37 


4 A 


i,079 


696 


383 


64.51 


35-49 


5B 


846 


544 


302 


64.31 


35.69 


5A 


1,097 


642 


455 


58.53 


41-47 


6B 


869 


552 


317 


63.52 


36.48 


6A 


804 


497 


307 


61.82 


38.18 


7B 


749 


485 


264 


6475 


35.25 


7 A 


760 


467 


293 


61.16 


38.84 


8B 


603 


408 


195 


67.83 


32.17 


8A 


635 


413 


222 


65.1 


34-9 



Girls — Of the 14,148 girls enrolled, 3,794 or 
26.8 per cent, have spent one or more years in out- 
side schools. The per cent, is slightly less than that 
of boys and the greatest per cent, is 38,8 in the 6A 
grade but this is only slightly greater than 4A with 
38.17 per cent; 6B, 38.43 per cent.; 8A, 38.48 per 
cent. 

The more even distribution of girls is no doubt 
due to the fact that the per cent, of slow progress 
among the girls is less than that among the boys, 
and seeming economic pressure does not affect the 
girls so quickly as it does the boys. 

Table C classifies the girls in the white elemen- 
tary schools by grades and by the facts of attend- 



USE OF MEASUREMENTS 



199 



ance or non-attendance in outside schools showing 
per cents. 

Table C — White girls in Indianapolis Elemen- 
tary Schools classified by grades and by attendance 
and non-attendance upon outside schools with per- 
centage distribution. 







All Time 


Some Time 


Percentage 






in Indpls. 


in Outside 


Distribution 


Grades 


Total 


Schools 


Schools 


Indpls. 


Outside 


Total 


14,148 


io,354 


3,794 


73-2 


26.8 


iB 


750 


733 


17 


97-74 


2.26 


iA 


1,239 


1,163 


76 


93.87 


6.13 


2B 


769 


678 


9i 


88.17 


n.83 


2A 


1,180 


957 


223 


81.11 


18.89 


3B 


760 


569 


191 


74.87 


25.13 


3A 


978 


726 


252 


74.23 


2577 


4 B 


817 


597 


220 


73.07 


26.93 


4 A 


i,053 


661 


392 


61.83 


38.17 


5B 


898 


617 


281 


68.72 


31.28 


5A 


991 


646 


345 


65.19 


34.8i 


6B 


804 


495 


309 


6i.57 


38.43 


6A 


920 


563 


357 


61.20 


38.80 


7B 


800 


536 


264 


67.00 


33-00 


7A 


812 


52i 


291 


62.93 


37.07 


8B 


626 


430 


196 


68.69 


31-31 


8A 


751 


462 


289 


61.52 


38.48 



By Schools 

Another view of the problem may be had from 
Table D, which classifies the children enrolled in 
elementary white schools by attendance or non- 
attendance in outside schools and by schools, show- 
ing percentage distribution. This table shows that 
four schools have a turnover of over fifty per cent. 



200 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

Table D — Children in Elementary White 
Schools, classified by schools and by attendance or 
non-attendance upon outside schools with percentage 
distribution. 



I 


2 


3 


4 


5 Percentage 
Distribution 






c 


iome Years 




Some Years 






In Indpls. 


in 


In Indpls 


in 






Schools 


Outside 


Schools 


Outside 


School 


Total 


Only 


Schools 


Only 


Schools 


I 


67 


50 


17 


74.63 


25-37 


2 


629 


232 


397 


37.05 


62.95 


3 


843 


668 


175 


79.25 


20.75 


4 


522 


390 


132 


74.71 


25.29 


5 


297 


216 


81 


72.73 


27.27 


6 


623 


452 


171 


72.55 


2745 


7 


448 


317 


131 


70.76 


29.24 


8 


344 


222 


122 


64.54 


3546 


9 


567 


342 


225 


60.32 


39-68 


10 


617 


439 


1/8 


7I.I5 


28.85 


ii 


236 


95 


141 


40.26 


59-74 


12 


671 


483 


188 


7348 


26.52 


13 


370 


253 


117 


68.38 


31.62 


14 


545 


407 


138 


74-68 


25.32 


15 


700 


535 


16S 


76.43 


23-57 


16 


466 


332 


124 


73-39 


26.61 


18 


577 


433 


144 


75.04 


24.96 


20 


550 


449 


101 


81.82 


18.18 


21 


430 


348 


82 


80.93 


19,07 


22 


336 


272 


64 


80.95 


19.05 


25 


290 


215 


75 


74.14 


25.86 


27 


372 


251 


121 


67.47 


32.53 


28 


463 


339 


124 


73-22 


26.78 


29 


530 


368 


164 


69.05 


31.95 


30 


66 


66 





100. 


• • 


3i 


424 


299 


125 


70.52 


29.48 


32 


501 


354 


147 


70.6 


29.4 


33 


622 


490 


132 


78.78 


21.22 


34 


353 


291 


62 


82.16 


17.84 


35 


543 


435 


108 


80.11 


19.89 


& 


626 


465 


161 


73-95 


26.05 


38 


302 


245 


57 


81. 


19. 



USE OF MEASUREMENTS 201 



39 


639 


489 


150 


76.53 


2347 


4r 


1,108 


863 


245 


77.89 


22.11 


43 


466 


315 


151 


65-45 


34-55 


44 


566 


442 


124 


78.10 


21.90 


45 


582 


401 


181 


68.91 


31.09 


46 


469 


363 


106 


7740 


22.60 


47 


654 


433 


221 


66.22 


3378 


48 


148 


113 


35 


76.35 


23-65 


49 


709 


513 


186 


73-43 


26.57 


50 


649 


477 


172 


73.51 


26.49 


51 


1,024 


730 


294 


71.29 


28.71 


52 


895 


686 


209 


76.65 


23.35 


53 


174 


118 


56 


67.93 


32.17 


54 


870 


675 


195 


77-59 


22.41 


55 


601 


463 


138 


77.11 


22.89 


56 


240 


173 


67 


72.09 


27.91 


57 


754 


532 


222 


70.56 


29.44 


58 


765 


604 


161 


78.95 


21.05 


59 


139 


73 


66 


52.51 


47-49 


60 


857 . 


639 


218 


75.85 


24.15 


61 


209 


174 


35 


83.26 


16.74 


62 


133 


109 


24 


81.96 


18.04 


66 


484 


396 


88 


81.82 


18.18 


67 


337 


218 


119 


64.69 


35.31 


69 


47 


47 





100. 


. . . . 


70 


288 


176 


112 


61.12 


38.88 


7i 


51 


17 


34 


33-33 


66.66 


72 


303 


69 


234 


22.78 


77.22 


T. F. 


A. 50 


25 


25 


50. 


50. 



The distribution of schools by per cent, of pupils 
who have begun their school life before entering 
the Indianapolis schools is shown in Table E. This 
table shows that five schools have a turnover of 
more than fifty per cent., ten of more than thirty- 
five per cent., and thirty-eight of more than twenty- 
five per cent. 

In this table 15 means 15 but less than 20, 20 
means 20 but less than 25, etc. 



202 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

Table E — Per cent, of pupils enrolled in the 
Indianapolis Public Schools for zvhite children mho 
have begun their school life before entering the city 
schools — April, ip 19. 



Per cent, of Total 


Number of 


Enrollment 


Schools 


Total 


61 


Below 15 


2 


15 


9 


20 


12 


25 


21 


30 


7 


35 


4 


40 




45 


1 


50 and above 


5 


Median 


26.3% 



This study shows the extent of "immigration" 
into the Indianapolis schools ; the location by schools 
and by grades of this immigration; the relation of 
these facts to the age and progress of the pupils. 
And it points to the remedies that are needed in 
order to counteract the relatively large amount of 
shifting in school enrollment. From the standpoint 
of school administration and from the standpoint 
of the class-room teacher, such a study has great 
significance. 

In general there are two factors which must be 
measured in connection with the work of teaching. 
First of all the training processes through which the 
pupils are put must be measured in order to con- 
serve the time and effort of both the pupil and the 



USE OF MEASUREMENTS 203 

teacher. If these training processes can be stand- 
ardized so that the achievement of the pupil can be 
known, it will result in great economy. In the sec- 
ond place the results of educational work must be 
measured, not absolutely, but relatively. Since def- 
inite aims are set up for achievement^ it is important 
for the public and for educators to know whether 
these things are being achieved and to what extent. 

It is true that these things have always been 
done in a general way. Usually achievement has 
been estimated on a percentage basis, but there has 
never been any common understanding as to the 
basis upon which the percentage is figured. For 
example, if a pupil receive a grade of seventy-five 
in arithmetic, does it mean that he has attained 
seventy-five per cent, of what the teacher thought 
he should accomplish, or seventy-five per cent, of 
the average attainment of the others in his class, or 
seventy-five per cent, of possible perfection. Unless 
some basis be established upon which to estimate a 
percentage, the percentage itself means very little. 

Educational factors which are definite It is 

possible to establish a definite basis for the estima- 
tion of the pupil's attainment because many factors 
in the work of education are quantitative. For 
example, the rate of oral reading, the speed in writ- 
ing, the number of errors in spelling or arithmetic, 
etc., in the various grades are perfectly definite 



204 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

facts and if it is known what the attainment of the 
pupil should be in these respects, it is possible to 
measure his actual attainment in these lines very 
definitely. 

A second fact which indicates the applicability 
of this method is the necessity of making a diagnosis 
of the child's present attainment and his ability in 
order to teach him intelligently at all. If these 
matters be merely assumed or left in the field of 
vague speculation, the instructional work will not be 
so effective as though the means used were directed 
to more definite ends. Just as the skilled physician 
will have a better chance for successful treatment if 
he make a correct diagnosis, so the teacher can 
instruct to better advantage if she know the child's 
previous attainment and his ability to advance. 

Educational factors which can not be measured. 

— Notwithstanding the fact that many educational 
factors are quantitative as indicated above, we 
should not forget that this is not true of the whole 
of education. Many of the most important factors 
in education have to do with the training of the will 
of the pupil rather than his intellect. The attitude 
of the pupil toward life, his qualities of character, 
are fully as important as the development of his 
mental powers. The cultivation of his interests, his 
tastes, the development in him of high principles of 
honor, courage and ideals of service — these are 



USE OF MEASUREMENTS 205 

among the most vital outcomes of the work of edu- 
cation. It has been said that the most important 
question to be asked about a pupil is not "What can 
he do" but "What will he do." This indicates that 
education must be concerned not only with what is 
true, that is, with facts, but also what is right. 

A further limitation upon the use of quantita- 
tive methods is that the child is not a finished 
product, but is in a condition of growth and devel- 
opment. Hence, to a certain extent the attempt to 
measure his status is like attempting to paint a pic- 
ture with pigments which change color as they flow 
from the brush. Life is not static; it is fluid. 

These considerations should not blind us to the 
part which these exact standards and measurements 
may play in the intellectual attainment. It should 
cause us to limit the application of this method to 
the field in which it applies rather than to attempt 
to make it of universal application. 

How the teacher may be helped Statistical 

methods have been sufficiently developed that they 
have become a real help in the work of teaching. A 
working knowledge of these methods will be an 
efficient tool in the hands of the teacher. Efficient 
workmen should welcome any improvement in their 
tools. Science has contributed wonderfully in the 
improvement of tools and machinery. The work- 
man who would prefer a hand drill to a pneumatic 



206 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

or electric drill to-day would be regarded as ineffi- 
cient, and teachers should be as ready to adopt new 
devices which are superior to the old. 

It should be observed that this method is chiefly 
of value for the constructive use which may be 
made of it. Tests are not chiefly negative in pur- 
pose but they are for the purpose of finding out 
what needs to be done. Many teachers have felt 
that standard tests and measurements were being 
used chiefly by supervisors and other school officers 
for the purpose of uncovering defects. If the work 
stopped there very little would be accomplished. 
The greatest value of this method is its possibilities 
in the hands of a progressive teacher. She can use 
it to define her own problems more clearly and to 
solve them more efficiently. 

Wide range of ability — One result of intelligence 
tests has been to show us that there is a greater 
range of ability in a group of pupils than we had 
been accustomed to think. We have not been fair 
to the superior pupils, but have held them back to 
a greater extent than their ability would justify. 
Whether the intelligence tests estimate absolutely 
the individual intelligence or not, they are of great 
value in showing the extremes of ability in a given 
group with the result that these extremes will be 
given educational treatment in accordance with their 
needs. 

The discriminating use of the tests and scales 



USE OF MEASUREMENTS 207 

which have been derived in the various subjects will 
show the progress and attainment of the pupil more 
definitely than heretofore. This will be an element 
of satisfaction to teachers, parents and pupils. 
Teachers have been obliged for so long to defend 
their judgment in marking pupils that any device 
which will make them more positive in their rating, 
will be a great gain to the cause of education. 

For many years school statistics have shown a 
high percentage of retardation. Through the use 
of the statistical method, studies are now being made 
comparing the age and the grade and the progress 
of the pupils in such a way that the real facts of 
retardation appear. The remedies can thus be 
applied with comparative ease and the resultant 
saving in time and money will be enormous. In 
this one department alone the statistical method has 
proved of untold value. 

The literature on this subject is increasing 
rapidly and no teacher should be unfamiliar with it. 
It is a part of the modern teacher's stock in trade 
and the need of a knowledge of these methods and 
skill in their use, will be of increasing importance 
as the years go by. 

OUTLINE OF THE CHAPTER 

A. New science of education. 

1. Statistical method. 

2. Measurement of variables. 

B. Description of statistical method. 



208 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

i. Method is a means of doing something. 

a. It is not an end in itself. 

b. Requisite of a good method. 

2. Two kinds of educational tasks for which 

the statistical method is valuable. 

a. Administrative questions. 

i. Finances. 
ii. Buildings. 
iii. Salaries. 
iv. Organization of schools. 

b. Teaching questions. 

i. Ability of pupil. 
ii. Previous training, 
iii. Progress, 
iv. Attainment. 

3. Customary method of measuring achieve- 

ment, 
a. Examinations. 

i. Questions not evaluated. 

4. Value of new method. 

a. Standards more definite. 

5. Chief steps in the scientific method. 

a. Collection of data. 

b. Tabulation of data. 

c. Analysis of data. 

6. Illustration of above steps. 

C. Why statistical method applies to education. 

1. Processes must be measured. 

2. Results must be measured. 

3. Many educational factors are quantitative. 

a. Rate of reading, writing. 

b. Number of errors in spelling, 

arithmetic. 

4. Necessity of diagnosis. 



USE OF MEASUREMENTS , 209 

a. Child's status. 

b. His ability to advance. 

5. Not all of education is quantitative. 

a. Training the will. 

b. What can he do vs. what will he do. 

c. Attitude toward life. 

d. Child not a finished product. 
D. Uses of statistical method by teachers. 

1. Working knowledge of this method as a 

tool, 
a. Constructive use, not negative. 

2. Intelligence tests will show extremes of 

ability. 
a. Provision for superior pupils. 

3. Tests and scales in various subjects will 

show progress more definitely. 

REFERENCES 

Judd — Introduction to the Scientific Study of 
Education. 

Monroe — Measuring the Results of Teaching. 

Rugg — Statistical Methods Applied to Educa- 
tion. 

Starch — Educational Measurements. 

Terman — Measurement of Intelligence. 

TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION 

How is it possible to measure a variable quantity? How 
does a standard test differ from an ordinary test? How has 
the scale for measuring handwriting been derived? Show by 
an example the use of standard tests in teaching. How are 
diagnostic tests useful ? Is the statistical method more useful 
in administrative or teaching problems? Name several fac- 
tors in education which can not be measured. 



CHAPTER XIV 

SPECIALIZATION IN EDUCATION 

The industrial revolution. — The present age has 
been called the age of specialization because of the 
extent to which the occupations of mankind have 
been divided and subdivided into a large number of 
separate departments and processes. The extent to 
which this has taken place is remarkable. In the 
shoe-making industry the making of a shoe is divided 
into more than seventy-five processes and requires 
that many men. Formerly a shoe was made by one 
man, a shoemaker. This change has been equally 
marked in other occupations. 

The change from a simple primitive type of 
society to the present complex, highly organized 
type has been called the industrial revolution. It 
might perhaps better be termed "evolution" since the 
change was gradual. It is difficult to fix definite 
dates for the beginning and ending of this develop- 
ment and it is unnecessary to do so. It is sufficient 
to know that it dates from the beginning of the 
factory system in England about 1770. 

210 



SPECIALIZATION IN EDUCATION 211 

Growth of scientific knowledge It is interest- 
ing to examine the causes of this change. The 
results have been so tremendous and the effects on 
society so radical that the cause is a matter of con- 
cern to the world. The principal force which 
brought all these changes about was the growth of 
scientific knowledge and the application of science 
to industry and to life. If the present condition of 
living be contrasted with that of one hundred years 
ago, we are struck by the presence in our lives to-day 
of many inventions which contribute to our com- 
fort and convenience. For example, modes of 
transportation have become so facilitated that dis- 
tance is a matter of small concern for the transport- 
ing either of persons or of goods. A whole book 
could be written on the benefits to our day and age 
accruing from improved methods of transportation. 
It is far easier and cheaper and more comfortable 
to travel one thousand miles to-day than it was to 
travel one hundred in the times of our grandfathers. 

The invention of the telephone and telegraph 
have so improved the means of communication that 
it is literally true that the world to-day is one big 
community. During the recent World War the 
critical and important events were known in America 
a few minutes after they happened thousands of 
miles away. The great disaster in Halifax Harbor 
a few years ago, was made known throughout the 



212 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

world so promptly that assistance was sent in from 
other communities with a degree of promptness 
which prevented much suffering. 

Inventions in connection with printing have 
made possible the dissemination of information of 
all kinds on a scale hitherto undreamed of. To-day- 
it is possible to attend a great meeting and hear an 
inspiring address and on leaving the hall be met at 
the door by a newsboy with a paper containing a full 
account of the proceedings and the address one has 
just heard. Such an incident would excite no sur- 
prise in a modern audience. 

The means of lighting our houses, stores and 
streets have been so improved that it is now possible 
to secure any degree of illumination desired by 
pressing a button. The same is true of other con- 
veniences, such as water and heat. These are now 
piped into our buildings and are supplied with a 
minimum of concern on the part of the user. 

Inventions for the performance of mechanical 
operations are countless. Not long ago I saw a 
machine for the digging of ditches at work. It 
excavated a ditch of the required width and depth 
and filled in the earth afterward so that the entire 
operation of excavating and filling was performed 
while the machine was passing slowly over the 
ground. With hand labor such work would be 
onerous and would require many times the time and 



SPECIALIZATION IN EDUCATION 213 

effort used by the machine. Another simple illus- 
tration is the electric fan. In the olden days it 
required the work of several people to operate fans 
for the comfort of those who were able to employ 
such help. To-day the electric fan may be placed 
anywhere and operated swiftly and silently by 
mechanical power. 

It is unnecessary to multiply examples. On 
every side we are surrounded by conveniences which 
have become essential to our comfort. They enter 
into our lives and become a part of the commonplace 
of our existence. We are enabled to devote much 
time and thought to other matters since these com- 
forts and conveniences are provided with a mini- 
mum of attention on our part. 

Change to machine labor. — The substitution of 
machine labor for hand labor has indeed worked a 
revolution in modern life. All kinds of mechanical 
processes are now efficient to a degree hitherto 
unknown. This is particularly true in the produc- 
tive industries. Take such an example as the manu- 
facture of nails. In primitive times nails were 
hammered out by hand in a laborious way; to-day 
automatic machines produce them by the thousands, 
all of uniform shape and size. Not long ago I visited 
a knitting factory. I saw automatic machines knit- 
ting garments continuously, day and night, the only 
thing necessary being a spool of the proper material 



214 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

supplied as the machine needed it. The completed 
garment came out of a funnel on the front of the 
machine. Such a process seems like a mechanical 
miracle. The increased production which is possible 
by means of machinery is so great that it is almost 
incalculable, and the consequent saving of human 
labor enables one man to accomplish as much as ten 
could before. 

Development of power machinery. — With the 
development of machinery came the necessity for 
power to run the machines. The discovery of steam 
and the application of it to mechanics furnished the 
needed power. To-day by means of steam and 
electricity and compressed air, the largest machines 
are operated with the utmost ease. An example of 
modern mechanical efficiency is furnished by the 
building of the Panama Canal. Many years ago 
when the first attempts were made to dig the canal, 
hand labor played a much more important part in 
the work of the world than to-day. At the present 
time by means of the steam shovel and other modern 
appliances, the tremendous engineering work of 
digging this canal was completed in a comparatively 
brief time. It should not be overlooked that the 
human element played an important part in this 
enterprise, as indeed it does in all mechanical work, 
but the perfection of machinery made possible an 
achievement which with mere hand labor would 
doubtless have been impossible. 



SPECIALIZATION IN EDUCATION 215 

Increase in number of occupations. — Let us con- 
sider a few further effects on present-day life of the 
industrial revolution briefly sketched above. One 
of the striking facts is the increased number of occu- 
pations. The present classification of occupations 
according to the United States Census shows more 
than seventeen thousand different kinds of work. 
No doubt each succeeding census will show a still 
greater number. The Rotary Clubs of the United 
States are organized on the basis of one represen- 
tative from each kind of business or pursuit. The 
club of which I am a member has about four hun- 
dred members and these are not competitors of one 
another in any way. This variety of occupations 
makes life more complex and makes it more diffi- 
cult for any one to be well informed about the de- 
tails of occupations other than his own. Have you 
not had the experience of visiting some business or 
factory and being surprised to find the high state 
of development of the work, its efficiency, its com- 
plexity, and the perfection of the various processes ; 
and have you not felt that people in general should 
know more about such work in order to realize how 
the necessities of life are prepared? 

Change from home to factory. — A second effect 
of the industrial revolution was the changing of 
productive industry from the home to the factory. 
Under primitive conditions the home produced and 
manufactured practically everything it consumed, 



216 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

even to the spinning of thread and the weaving of 
cloth and the making of clothes. Under these con- 
ditions the home was a complete industrial and social 
unit. To-day the processes necessary for comfort- 
able home life are parcelled out among hundreds of 
industries, and the home is dependent on the satis- 
factory operation of these many industries for its 
comfort and well-being. This change necessitated 
the workers going from the home to the factory. 
This produced large groups or communities of fac- 
tory workers and changed the form of life to a dif- 
ferent type of organization. It also changed the 
conditions necessary for the learning of a given 
trade or occupation. Under the old apprenticeship 
system it was possible for a boy to learn an entire 
occupation and become himself a master of all the 
processes of his trade. Under modern conditions 
this is no longer possible. The beginner usually has 
a part to master, only a single process or a small 
subdivision of the entire task. 

Division of labor. — The greatest change brought 
about by the industrial revolution was the division 
of labor, that is, the performance of a single opera- 
tion by one person, instead of all the operations 
involved in a single productive enterprise. This 
made production a collective^ not an individual 
affair. It required the cooperation of many people 
in the production of a single article. It has made 



SPECIALIZATION IN EDUCATION 217 

society an organism, the various parts of which must 
cooperate for the welfare of the whole. It is like 
the human body which possesses organs with dif- 
ferentiated functions. The welfare and the effi- 
ciency of the human being depend upon the proper 
performance of the respective functions by the 
various organs of the body. Division of labor 
brought about the plan of production by piece work. 
This means the basing of wages upon the number 
of single pieces of a given kind which one operator 
can produce. It tends to the development of a great 
skill in the one operation but to less knowledge of 
the entire business and therefore less interest in it. 
The division of labor is undoubtedly good on the 
material side of life, but it may be questioned 
whether the same is true of the human side. 

Need of capital — This industrial revolution also 
made capital more necessary than ever before. In 
order to provide the factories and the machines 
necessary for production under machine conditions, 
it became necessary to have large amounts of capi- 
tal. The need of capital has brought about the 
science of finance which has developed a system of 
credit which enables society to capitalize its possi- 
bilities as well as its past performances. Without 
the use of credit modern business would be impos- 
sible as there is not enough cash in the world to 
perform the business of the world. 



218 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

A further effect of the industrial revolution has 
been the increase of comfort already alluded to. It 
is literally true that the luxuries of yesterday have 
become the necessities of to-day. The entire scale 
of living has advanced for all civilized people so 
that the standards of comfort to-day are far above 
those of yesterday. 

Increase in wealth. — The industrial revolution 
has added greatly to the wealth of the world. 
There is more for every one to-day than ever before 
in the world's history. This is a great benefit but 
it has a danger. It tends to emphasize the material 
side of life and to cause men to think that their suc- 
cess and happiness reside in material possessions. 
These material comforts are greatly to be desired 
but they must be kept in their proper place in life 
and not become the end and aim of all existence. 

Class divisions. — A further tendency in modern 
life is toward stratification and class divisions. The 
wage earner often feels that his interests are distinct 
from those of other occupations. The producer 
sometimes feels that he is entitled to special consid- 
eration. The lack of understanding of the condi- 
tions in the various occupations produces a lack of 
sympathy with the workers in the various lines. 
This tendency is very much less marked in America 
than in other countries, but it is present to a greater 
extent than is desirable. America has the tremen- 



SPECIALIZATION IN EDUCATION 219 

dous advantage of freedom of opportunity. Any 
person in any line of work may advance in that line 
to the top or he may change to any other occupa- 
tion without interference. The leaders in com- 
merce and industry in our country to-day are for 
the most part men who have started at the bottom 
and who have risen because of ability and applica- 
tion. This keeps the lines of progress open so that 
no man is arbitrarily denied the right to any activ- 
ity which he may desire to follow and to any attain- 
ment of which he may be capable. 

Effect on education. — What has been the effect 
of the industrial revolution upon education ? In the 
first place it has changed the aim of education. The 
earlier purpose was the acquirement of knowledge, 
the equipping of the individual with "learning" in 
the academic sense, but the change in the character 
of society has brought about of necessity an aim in 
education no less comprehensive than that of fitting 
the individual for life. This preparation for life 
is a very complex aim because life itself is complex, 
but nothing less than this will satisfy the purposes 
of modern education. 

Not only is the aim of education changed, but 
the kind of training which must be given to accom- 
plish this aim. Modern education recognizes the 
necessity for self-activity on the part of the learner. 
He must learn to do by doing; he must be educated 



220 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

by participating in the very activities which he is to 
master. This principle looks to the self-develop- 
ment of the pupil rather than superimposition of 
knowledge from without. 

Education has also become socialized. The 
modern course of study contains representative ele- 
ments of society as a whole. All the typical depart- 
ments of modern life are represented in the course 
of study. 

Need of cooperation — Modern education devel- 
ops a spirit of team work or cooperation. It teaches 
the pupil that he lives in a world, the members of 
which are mutually interdependent. This interde- 
pendence necessitates the development of certain 
traits of character on the part of the individual. He 
must play the game fairly with his fellows, he must 
act well his part and be faithful to his trust because 
his failure to do so will not only jeopardize his own 
interests but will make impossible the performance 
of the cooperative task in which he plays an im- 
portant part. This quality of character is more 
important to-day than ever before in the world's 
history. It is much easier to take advantage of 
some one at long range, to fail him in some service 
when that service is impersonal and there will be no 
direct retribution if it be not performed. The 
cooperation necessary in modern society demands a 
strength of character greater than that needed 
under more individualistic conditions. 



SPECIALIZATION IN EDUCATION 221 

Specialization in teaching. — Not only have the 
aim and the kind of education changed, but the way 
in which the labor of teaching is done has also 
changed. Teachers have become specialists and no 
longer expect to cover a large number of fields of 
education. The departmental method is one exam- 
ple of this. Instead of teaching all the subjects of a 
given grade a teacher will now teach one subject in 
one or more grades, such as history or arithmetic. 
This makes the work of teaching a collective enter- 
prise. It lessens the responsibility of the teacher 
in one sense but increases it in another sense. 

This specialization makes possible a greater skill 
and proficiency in teaching. It becomes relatively 
easier to master the technique of a single subject. 
It creates a. danger of course that the teacher will 
be more of an artisan than artist, but this danger can 
be guarded against if the teacher be aware of it. 
It also creates the same tendency toward class inter- 
ests and class division as in business and industry. 
The class-room teacher is apt to feel that the 
principal or supervisor does not understand or sym- 
pathize with her particular problems. This tendency 
to stratification must be carefully guarded against. 
It would be fatal to the true work of education 
were it ever to become prevalent. 

The work of organization — Another marked 
tendency in modern education is to emphasize the 



222 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

side of organization. The problem of coordinating 
the efforts of many departments and many groups 
of specialists has necessitated an amount of atten- 
tion to organization which never before existed. 
Many of the modern innovations in education such 
as the platoon plan and the junior high school plan 
are chiefly plans of this kind. Such work is neces- 
sary. There must be a certain amount of system, 
but the danger is here, as elsewhere, that organiza- 
tion shall become an end in itself, and that the mere 
machinery shall be elevated to the chief desideratum 
and that the purpose for which the system exists 
shall be in the background. This danger was per- 
ceived by one of America's foremost philosophers 
many years ago. In his essay on Education, Ralph 
Waldo Emerson sets forth this danger to education : 
"A rule is so easy that it does not need a man 
to apply it; an automaton, a machine, can be made 
to keep a school so. It facilitates labor and thought 
so much that there is always the temptation in large 
schools to omit the endless task of meeting the 
wants of each single mind, and to govern by steam. 
But it is at frightful cost. Our modes of education 
aim to expedite, to save labor ; to do for masses what 
cannot be done for masses, what must be done 
reverently, one by one : say rather, the whole world 
is needed for the tuition of each pupil. The advan- 
tages of this system of emulation and display are so 



SPECIALIZATION IN EDUCATION 223 

prompt and obvious, it is such a time-saver, it is so 
energetic on slow and on bad natures^ and is of so 
easy application, needing no* sage or poet, but any 
tutor or schoolmaster in his first term can apply it, — 
that it is not strange that this calomel of culture 
should be a popular medicine. On the other hand, 
total abstinence from this drug, and the adoption of 
simple discipline and the following of nature, in- 
volves at once immense claims on the time, the 
thoughts, on the life of the teacher. It requires 
time, use, insight, event, all the great lessons and 
assistances of God ; and only to think of using it im- 
plies character and profoundness; to enter on this 
course of discipline is to be good and great." 

Needed adjustments of education. — What adjust- 
ments of education can be made to meet the condi- 
tions of the age of specialization? In the first 
place it is necessary to realize that the principle of 
division of labor has come to stay. The world will 
not return to its former ways. History shows us 
that society evolves, that it develops ever to new 
stages, but that it does not return to its former 
modes of living and thought. Those who lament 
the good old days doubtless exaggerate their benefi- 
cence and overlook the fact that the world is con- 
stantly becoming better and that the cause of 
progress will not be subserved by turning the march 
of civilization backward. 



224 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

Advantages of specialization. — There are un- 
doubted advantages to be gained from specializa- 
tion of effort in teaching. In the first place a 
greater expertness and proficiency are possible. One 
can have a sense of mastery in knowing thoroughly 
his particular field. He may develop a great skill 
in teaching because he is not obliged to disseminate 
his efforts too widely. Undoubtedly the results 
obtained in the teaching of the various subjects are 
superior under the departmental plan and those who 
have tried it do not often willingly return to the 
older method. The teacher's preparation can be 
more thorough if she focuses her efforts upon a 
particular field and this preparation can be obtained 
in less time than would be possible if several fields 
had to be mastered. 

Disadvantages of specialization Along with 

these advantages there are several disadvantages of 
specialization in teaching. One of these is that the 
work tends to become more impersonal. The 
teacher's interest is apt to be more in the subject- 
matter taught than in the pupil who is being taught. 
There is also slightly less responsibility for the 
product if the teacher feels responsibility only for a 
pupil's knowledge of history; she may leave out of 
account some of the elements of judgment and men- 
tal attitude which are the outcomes of the work of 
education* 



SPECIALIZATION IN EDUCATION 225 

Furthermore the same danger 01 a lack of full 
confidence in one's coworkers obtains in this field 
as in the other occupations. Teachers often feel 
that the other teachers who have had to do with 
the training of a given pupil have not been efficient 
or entirely faithful. This tendency to a lack of con- 
fidence and a sympathetic appreciation of one 
another's difficulties is the danger which exists in 
all cooperative enterprises. Furthermore, there is 
the danger that too much emphasis will be placed 
on mere technique and the acquisition of knowl- 
edge. This should always be subordinated to the 
true aims of education. 

There is also the danger that teachers may lose 
a full realization of accomplishment in connection 
with their work under the plan of division of labor. 
It becomes more difficult to point to the attain- 
ment of any pupil as the result of one's own efforts. 
This detracts somewhat from one's satisfaction with 
his work and lessens the reward that he obtains 

from this source. 

Means of adjustment. — The means of meeting 
these difficulties are first of all to recognize the 
elements of the problem, to realize the difficulties 
and dangers and to make a determined effort to 
overcome them. This will not be accomplished by 
the creation of more organization and more machin- 
ery, but rather by increasing the human elements 



226 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

and the human factors which we bring to bear upon 
our work. This can be done by taking" more inter- 
est in the personal welfare of our pupils, in being 
acquainted with their parents and their home condi- 
tions and having a genuine interest in their well- 
being and their success as individuals. Also a 
definite effort should be made to cultivate confi- 
dence in one's associates and a belief that they are 
contributing their full share to the common enter- 
prise and that the work will not fail through a lack 
of effort on their part. Only so can the responsibil- 
ities of an interdependent society be met and only 
so can the kind of civilization which we are trying 
to carry on be advanced to a higher plane and the 
cause of progress thus be subserved. 

OUTLINE OF THE CHAPTER 

A. The industrial revolution. 

1. Meaning of the term. 

a. Change from simple, primitive type 

of society, to complex, highly or- 
ganized type. 

b. Might better be termed evolution. 

c. In general, it dates from the begin- 

ning of the factory system in 
England. 

2. Chief cause. 

a. Growth of scientific knowledge. 

b. Application of science to industry 

and to life. 



SPECIALIZATION IN EDUCATION 227 

1. Inventions. 

ii. Extent to which we are 
dependent on modern con- 
veniences. 
iii. The marvel of yesterday is 
the commonplace of to-day. 
3. Principal characteristics. 

a. Substitution of machine labor for 

hand labor. 

b. Substituting steam for man power. 
'4. Effect on present-day life. 

a. Increased number of occupations. 

b. Moved productive industry from 

home to factory. 

c. Division of labor. 

i. Piece work. 

ii. Collective not individual. 
iii. More skill, less knowledge. 
iv. Good on material side, bad 
on human side. 

d. Made capital necessary. 

i. Development of credit. 

e. Increased comforts. 

i. Luxuries of yesterday neces- 
sities of to-day. 

f. Added to wealth of world. 

i. Emphasizes material side 
of life. 

g. Tendency to stratification and class 

divisions. 
B. Effects of industrial revolution on education. 

1. Changed aim of education. 

2. Need for different kind of education. 



228 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

a. Self-activity. 

b. Socialization. 

c. Team work. 

d. Character. 

3. Caused division of labor in teaching. 

a. Collective not individual. 

b. Lessening of responsibility. 

c. Easier to prepare. 

d. Emphasis on skill, technique. 

e. Class interests. 

4. Emphasized organization side. 

a. Need of coordination. 

b. Junior high school plan. 

c. Platoon plan. 

d. Put "system" into school system. 

i. Quotation from Emerson. 
C. Adjustment of education to principle of 
specialization. 

1. World will not return to former ways. 

a. History shows that society evolves, 

it develops to new stages but does 
not return to former ones. 

b. Those who lament "good old days" 

doubtless exaggerate their good- 
ness. 

2. Advantages of specialization in teaching. 

a. Greater productiveness. 

b. Greater proficiency. 

i. Sense of mastery. 

c. Simple operations. 

d. Ease of preparation. 

3. Disadvantages. 

a. Impersonality. 



SPECIALIZATION IN EDUCATION 229 

b. Less responsibility for product. 

c. Less sympathy with associates. 

d. Emphasis on technique. 

e. Less sense of accomplishment. 
'£. Means of adjustment. 

a. Recognize problem. 

b. More machinery not the solution. 

c. Increase human elements. 

d. Cultivate confidence in associates. 

REFERENCE 
Tufts — The Real Business of Living. 
TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION 

Do modern conveniences contribute to our comfort? Does 
the use of machines in productive industry lessen the need 
for human labor? Name several industries which were for- 
merly carried on in the home which are now confined entirely 
to factories. How has education changed on account of com- 
plexity of modern life? Is the departmental plan of teaching 
superior to the former plan? What is the advantage of the 
platoon plan? Is the modern complex life more interesting 
than the simple life ? Is it easier ? 



CHAPTER XV 

EDUCATION AND THE NATION 

"Education is the most sacred concern, indeed the only 
hope of a nation." — John Galsworthy. 

Change in the purpose of education. — One of the 

most striking changes which has taken place in 
American life is the change in the purpose of educa- 
tion. It has taken place so gradually that it is diffi- 
cult to realize until we compare the present purpose 
with that which existed at the very beginning of our 
life as a nation. On the beautiful Johnstone Gate- 
way which opens upon the Harvard yard there is 
an inscription referring to the purpose of the found- 
ing of Harvard College in 1636. This inscription 
states as the purpose of the founding of the college 
"To advance learning and perpetuate it to posterity 
dreading to leave an illiterate ministry to the 
churches when our present ministers shall lie in 
the dust." This indicates that the chief object was 
the promotion of scholarship for the training of the 
clergy. There was no thought that such education 
should be universal nor that it should be practical 

230 



EDUCATION AND THE NATION 231 

in the sense of preparing for the ordinary duties of 
life. 

Present purpose. — Present-day education has 
added to the ideal of learning, the idea of training, 
that is, the development of certain habits and skills 
which shall be serviceable to the individual and to 
society. It furthermore contemplates that education 
shall be universal and that it shall fit the individual 
for effective social participation or service. Because 
of its breadth and its universality, the carrying out 
of this ideal lies at the very foundation of life in a 
democracy. 

The thought that education should fit the youth 
for life is not to be taken in a narrow or utilitarian 
sense merely. Fitting for life involves not merely 
the training for practical affairs but also for the 
enjoyment of leisure, good will and social service. 
This purpose is so fundamental and so far-reaching 
that the schools alone can not fully accomplish it. 
The other agencies of American life must partici- 
pate in the task; namely, the home, the church, the 
press and the government. 

A necessary part of this training will be the 
transmission to the child of the past accomplish- 
ment of the race so that the civilization of the future 
may begin where our fathers left off. This func- 
tion of transmitting to the oncoming generation the 
intellectual inheritance of the race, is one of its 
important duties. 



232 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

Education as a conserving factor. — Education 
has a still further purpose as a preventive and con- 
structive factor in society. By means of it the civi- 
lization of the future should avoid many of the 
mistakes of the past and should profit by the race 
experience. 

The principle of local control — This work of 
education in America has always been a matter of 
local organization and control. When the United 
States Constitution was formed and adopted, it left 
to the local governments all the powers not specifi- 
cally assigned to the federal government. One of 
the powers so left was the control of education. As 
a result this principle of local control has been thor- 
oughly applied in American life. 

As a result of this plan a great inequality of 
educational opportunity has developed and wide 
differences in the educational results obtained by 
the various states and local districts. Such differ- 
ences would be inevitable under a purely local 
system. 

Results of education as shown by war. — The 
facts of the Selective Service Draft showed that 
some of the needs of the nation were not being fully 
met by the present educational system. Chief among 
these were the subjects of physical education and 
universal literacy. Physical examinations showed 
that almost fifty per cent, of the men between the 



EDUCATION AND THE NATION 233 

ages of eighteen and thirty-five were sufficiently 
deficient to unfit them for military service. These 
deficiencies were very largely remediable; probably 
ninety per cent, of all physical defects might be 
removed by proper training and health supervision. 

After the statistics of the draft were compiled, 
it was found that the defects among school chil- 
dren were about the same in amount and kind as 
among the men of draft age. This is significant 
because it points to the fact that unless these de- 
fects be removed during childhood they will persist 
into manhood and incapacitate the individual for 
certain kinds of service. This fact is also interest- 
ing because the draft figures can be used as a rough 
diagnosis of the kinds of defects to be met with 
among children. 

The amount of illiteracy discovered among the 
men who were drafted for military service was a 
surprise to every one. Since public education is 
free in America and since it is practically universal, 
students of education were inclined to the belief 
that the facilities offered were being utilized by 
those for whom they were intended. But it is now 
clear that the mere offering of an educational op- 
portunity is not sufficient to insure that all children 
of school age will avail themselves of it. Nor do 
the compulsory attendance laws entirely correct the 
difficulty. These laws are not enforced to a suffi- 



234 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

cient extent to accomplish the desired result, and 
still further effort must be made if education in 
America is to become in fact universal. 

The two qualities mentioned — physical efficiency 
and the ability to read and write — are not to be 
thought of as desirable merely from the standpoint 
of military service, and the reference to the Selec- 
tive Service Draft should not be understood as im- 
plying this. The chief need of these qualities is for 
the purposes of citizenship in times of peace and 
they are necessary because without them no person 
is capable of rendering the best services to society. 

Achievements of American education. — Consid- 
eration of the shortcomings in American education 
outlined above should not obscure the many splendid 
accomplishments of education which were also re- 
vealed in the national emergency incident to the 
World War. One of the most significant occurrences 
was the ready acceptance of the Selective Service 
Draft on the part of the entire citizenship. At the 
beginning of the war it was freely predicted that a 
universal draft could not be carried out without 
draft riots and other indications of resentment, but 
when the law was finally passed and put into effect, 
it was generally recognized by the country that the 
plan was necessary and that it was fair and wise. 
Most people felt that they preferred to have the 
government select those who were needed for the 



EDUCATION AND THE NATION 235 

various branches of the service rather than leave 
it to the haphazard decision of a volunteer system. 
The facility with which the draft law operated was 
an evidence of the general intelligence and the high 
patriotic spirit of our people, both of which are 
partly the product of public education. 

Another fact attested to by army officers and 
government officials was that the American soldiers 
were highly efficient. In spite of their lack of long 
continued, military training they quickly adapted 
themselves to the conditions of military life and 
performed with intelligence and despatch the duties 
assigned them. One of the chief characteristics ex- 
hibited by the American soldier was his initiative 
and his willingness to accept responsibility. It is 
clear that the American system of education con- 
tributes to both these qualities. 

The splendid qualities of the American soldier 
were exhibited by many Americans of foreign birth 
who were the products of the American public 
school. Such soldiers were thoroughly imbued with 
American ideals and principles and they served as 
loyally and as enthusiastically as could be desired. 
This is the best possible evidence that public educa- 
tion in America is producing a high type of citizen- 
ship and that the free institutions of America which 
are founded upon that citizenship are upon a firm 
foundation. 



236 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

The characteristics of American education shown 
by the facts above outlined, are as a whole encour- 
aging rather than otherwise. They show that the 
most fundamental needs of the nation are being 
met, that the training is essentially sound and that 
it merely needs to be more universally applied than 
in the past. It indicates that the American system 
of education does not need to copy the ideals or 
methods of foreign countries but that the self- 
development of our own culture will suffice for our 
national needs. 

The principle of self-activity in education. — 

An important idea, relatively new in our education, 
is that of self-development through self-activity. 
The idea itself is not very new but the application 
of it to educational processes is comparatively 
recent. 

In order to furnish the pupil with an opportu- 
nity for education by participation, many forms of 
student activity have been provided in the modern 
school. These have frequently been misunderstood 
by the public and have been regarded as mere play 
or entertainment, whereas they have furnished the 
training ground for the development of skill and 
qualities of character by actual experience. Most 
of the so-called fads which are so frequently 
inveighed against by newspaper paragraphers and 
well-meaning social reformers are in reality agen- 



EDUCATION AND THE NATION 237 

cies of this character. The abolishing of such forms 
of training would throw the schools back to the old 
idea that the pupil was merely receptive and that 
his chief business was to store his mind with facts ; 
but experience has proved that undigested and unre- 
lated facts do not constitute an education and that 
they do not function in actual life. The reaction 
of the pupil upon the facts which he studies and the 
application which he makes of them is quite as im- 
portant, so far as his education is concerned, as the 
facts themselves. This is so well understood among 
educators that the desirability of self-development 
through self-activity is no longer a debatable ques- 
tion. It should be as freely accepted by the general 
public. 

In connection with this principle of education 
by participation it should be remembered that the 
school is not the only educational agency. The 
activity of the child in the home, on the street, in 
the store, and on the playground furnish him much 
of the experience out of which his development 
comes; and these factors are of great importance in 
the final result. Society should concern itself with 
the influences which have a bearing on child life 
and should not relegate to the school the entire 
task of education, although the school will probably 
always be the chief agent in formal instruction. 

The financial support of education. — A careful 



238 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

study of the conditions surrounding American edu- 
cation at the present time indicates that one of the 
chief reasons for the ineffectiveness of present edu- 
cational effort is that public education has not had 
a sufficiently liberal financial support. It is unnec- 
essary to recount the facts bearing out this statement 
such as low salaries for teachers, inadequate housing 
facilities, unsanitary and uncomfortable rooms and 
buildings, etc. These conditions are very general 
and are to a great extent ignored. 

A comparison of the amount of money spent for 
public education and for other kinds of service, 
reveals that many of the luxuries of life are provided 
at the expense of the necessities. For instance, 
more money is spent for tobacco every year in the 
United States than for all public education of every 
kind. Until the public realizes such facts and 
changes its practise accordingly, American educa- 
tion will be greatly handicapped for lack of adequate 
means. 

There is a very practical argument for liberal 
appropriations for education. Although the fact 
may not be commonly understood, there is a direct 
relation between education and national wealth. 
Many of the factors which determine the wealth of 
a country are fixed and can not be changed, but the 
factor of training or education is a variable and is 
within the control of the people. It is almost liter- 



EDUCATION AND THE NATION 239 

ally true that the wealth of a nation will be in direct 
proportion to the amount which it expends upon 
training and education. This is true, of course, 
only in case the money so spent be used judiciously 
and in such a way as to obtain value received for 
every dollar expended. 

Education must foster the ideal. — Of course the 
placing of the need for education upon a material 
basis alone is a false or partial view. Education 
must minister to the spiritual needs of life as well as 
to the material. Unless the ultimate values of life 
are fostered, education fails of its true function. 
Such values are essentially idealistic or spiritual, and 
yet they are the real needs and aim of life itself. 
Such ideals are progress, justice, integrity and the 
advancement of human welfare. These, as well as 
material ends, must be fostered by education. 

The necessity of holding in view the cultural 
aims of education should not blind us to the need 
for technical and economic efficiency as well. The 
recent introduction of vocational education into the 
American public schools has provided for an ele- 
ment of training which has long been greatly 
needed, but this training need not crowd out alto- 
gether the older ideals of liberal culture. It is per- 
fectly possible that both purposes shall be subserved 
by a well rounded scheme of education. To argue 
the relative merits of culture and technical efficiency 



240 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

is like arguing the relative merits of seeing and 
hearing, both are desirable and it is not necessary 
to abandon either practise in order to carry on the 
other. So in education both these purposes must be 
attained. 

Means of securing national aims in education. 

— The chief difficulty arises when we consider the 
means which should be used in order to obtain these 
results. The customary policy of exclusive local 
control of education has two serious defects : 
namely, a lack of sufficient funds in many cases 
to carry on an adequate educational system and 
the contentment with lower standards of scholar- 
ship than would be desirable. Recently there has 
been a great deal of discussion of the possibility of 
removing both these defects by creating a federal 
department of education with a secretary in the 
president's cabinet and with a federal appropria- 
tion to aid the various localities in certain phases of 
their work. This plan would undoubtedly assist 
backward localities in raising their standards, but 
it would also tend to cause greater dependence 
upon outside sources and less self-help. Popular 
education must always be self-developed. It can 
never be imposed and in the long run the education 
of the nation will not advance beyond the standards 
which the people themselves are able and willing 
to set up. 



EDUCATION AND THE NATION 241 

A national department of education might per- 
form two valuable services for American education. 
It might furnish statistical and other information 
relating to educational questions. At the present 
time a school teacher or school district wishing to 
ascertain school facts as the basis of the solution 
of a problem in educational administration, must 
collect those facts at first hand. Thousands of 
questionnaires are sent out every day seeking infor- 
mation on school subjects, in many cases duplicat- 
ing material already collected and requiring a great 
deal of time and effort on the part of school offi- 
cials. If such information were available in a na- 
tional department it would be a great economy of 
time and effort and a real assistance to school 
activities. 

The second function which a national bureau 
could perform would be the setting up of standards 
of achievement in various lines of educational 
endeavor so that the various localities could com- 
pare their own practises with such standards for 
purposes of improvement. These standards could 
cover such matters as the materials of the course 
of study, the apparatus and devices used in the 
schoolroom, the construction and equipment of 
school buildings and the financial support devoted 
to the various departments of school organization. 
To some extent the work here outlined is already 



242 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

being done, but the resources of the present bureau 
of education are too limited to enable it to be of 
maximum service. 

The principle of local control has this in its 
favor — it necessitates the educating of the people 
to a point of realizing their needs and making the 
maximum effort to supply those needs . themselves. 
This is the method of democracy and will probably 
never be superseded in America. 

The teacher shortage. — Another essential in 
obtaining suitable results in education is an ade- 
quate supply of properly trained teachers. For 
several years there have not been enough teachers 
to supply the needs of all schools. This has doubt- 
less been due to the increasing difficulty of enter- 
ing the profession on account of higher require- 
ments and to the low salaries in comparison with 
other occupations. The latter cause is being re- 
moved gradually and teachers' salaries are becom- 
ing more nearly adequate than ever before. 

The facilities for the training of teachers differ 
in the various states. For the most part reliance is 
placed upon normal schools supported and managed 
by the respective state governments. In most cases 
these institutions are supplemented by private nor- 
mal schools and by the college and university 
departments of education. 

Greater attention should be paid to the prepara- 



EDUCATION AND THE NATION 243 

tion of teachers for the rural schools. At the pres- 
ent time the rural schools receive teachers with the 
minimum amount of training and experience. This 
creates a condition very unfavorable to rural educa- 
tion and until this problem is solved the educational 
Opportunity of the country boy or girl will not be 
on a par with that of the city pupil. 

In the country as a whole the qualifications of 
teachers are higher than ever before and the teach- 
ing profession is rapidly reaching a plane of first- 
class professional standards. 

Need of attention to national program of educa- 
tion — All the problems outlined above and many 
others must be solved before public education in 
America will be upon a basis commensurate with 
the needs of the nation. This entire problem must 
be attacked in a vigorous fashion by the leaders of 
American thought and a determined stand made for 
the rights of the American child. A program of 
education will not accomplish itself. It is a matter 
of vital concern to the nation, for the national wel- 
fare can not be cared for without an adequate 
national educational program. 

The teacher's responsibility. — What is the 
teacher's part in this important work? A teacher 
has a responsibility as a leader of thought in her 
community. She can acquaint the parents and 
patrons with the present trend of educational devel- 



244 ESSENTIALS IN EDUCATION 

opment and with the needs of the schools of to-day. 
No service is more important than this. The quality 
of the schools depends on the willingness of the 
people to furnish the necessary means of support. 
This will be forthcoming if the people are brought 
to a full realization of the indispensable character 
of free, popular education. Educators should not 
be apologetic nor short-sighted in their advocacy of 
progressive school measures. To do so would be to 
fall short of the high requirements of their calling. 
The American people have always believed in public 
education. That belief has never wavered but it 
must be founded upon a knowledge of school facts 
and it is the duty and privilege of educators to sup- 
ply such information. 

OUTLINE OF THE CHAPTER 

A. Change in the purpose of education, 

i. Colonial aims. 
2. Present-day aims. 

a. Fitting for life. 

b. Transmitting the race inheritance. 

c. As a constructive factor. 

B. Principle of local control. 

i. Inequality of educational opportunity. 

C. Results of education as shown by war. 

1. Physical defects. 

2. Illiteracy. 

3. Good citizenship. 

4. Individuality and initiative. 



EDUCATION AND THE NATION 245 

D. Principle of self-activity. 

1. Student organizations. 

2. Other agencies. 

E. Financial support of education. 

1. Evidence of need. 

2. Comparison with expense for other pur- 

poses. 

3. Relationship to national wealth. 

F. Proposed national department of education. 

1. Need of local self-dependence. 

2. Valuable as a statistical bureau. 

3. Valuable as a standardizing agency. 

G. The teacher shortage. 

1. Due to higher requirements and low 

salaries. 

2. Conditions unfavorable to rural schools. 
H. The teacher's responsibility. 



TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION 

Why is education a concern of the nation as well as of the 
locality? What are the present defects in education from the 
national point of view? Can educational opportunity be equal 
if one school district levies fifty cents per pupil and another 
levies twenty dollars? How can the nation promote an 
adequate educational program? Is a man who can not read 
or write as good a citizen as he would be if he could read and 
write? < Why? What is the total amount spent in the United 
States in one year for public education ? How does this com- 
pare with the amount spent for various luxuries ? 



The End 



